Familiar Faces
by badforgood
Summary: Playing with time is never a good thing, and when two marauders are plunged into a different era this is no exception. Can the knowledge be forgotten, and the future stay unchanged? JPLE, HPGW, and SBHG with a sprinkling of HGRW for good measure.
1. Bad Tidings We Bring

**Familiar Faces**

**Disclaimer: All of these wonderfully brilliant characters and Potter-Land belong to JKR (really? Nowai!) But the plot belongs to me. (EDIT: and as of now I actually do have a plot!)**

_**Introduction**_

_I started this fic (with chapters 1-3) before Deathly Hallows was released. Now we have so much more canon however, my plot has changed ever so slightly (so my fic hasn't been screwed over). This is therefore, a completely new introduction to the one I had here before. (Eg. The fic is no longer AU)._

_This complies with the events of Deathly Hallows. Therefore it is a SPOILER ZONE! So if you don't want to read any spoilers, don't read any further. You have been warned._

_Remember...SPOILERS!_

**Chapter 1 – Bad Tidings We Bring**

A sharp prod in the ribs brought a snoring James into a state of bleary semi-consciousness. He rolled over, flinging an arm out in an attempt to retaliate, and promptly resumed his snoring. "Just give it up," came a voice from the other side of the 7th year's dormitory. "Haven't we learned from experience that a mere poke will never be enough to rouse his highness any earlier than two in the afternoon?"

"Two in the afternoon, I should be so lucky," snorted the attacker in a grumpy tone to remind his friends of the ungodly hour. In Sirius' opinion, nobody should have to wake before noon. But _if I have to, then I'm sure as hell going to make sure this lazy slob has to as well_, he thought. Just like every other week day. Sirius looked back at Remus, who was sitting fully dressed on his own bed and grinning, as his friend added "Well don't say I didn't warn you."

"It's already 8:30," interrupted a small voice from the corner. Peter was nervously checking his watch and sighed. "We only have half an hour left to have breakfast and get to class. Must we go through this every single day?"

"Blame him!" Sirius protested loudly, giving James another jab in the ribs and quickly stepping back to avoid the flying fist that was launched at him. Rolling his eyes as the figure muttered and groaned, he added "Honestly, if the oaf didn't have us, it would be a wonder if he got to any lessons at all!"

Deciding on a different approach, before the black haired teenager could start snoring yet again, Sirius gestured to his friends to cover their ears. With a flick of his wand, a horrible screeching sound filled the room. This had its desired effect. James leapt out of his four poster bed, eyes wide and flailing his arms as he nearly got caught in its red and gold curtains. Finishing the screeching charm with another flick of this wand, Sirius crossed his arms and turned to survey his other two room-mates with a triumphant expression. "How about that, Moony?"

Just as he had expected, Remus and Peter were doubled up in fits of laughter, which he now heard as his ears stopped ringing. The broad grin across Sirius' face soon disappeared as a pillow unexpectedly whacked him in the back of this head, causing the laughter to re-double. _Git,_ he thought, and said as much, adding, "Hurry up, I could eat a hippogriff."

---

James grinned as he pulled his robes on, and ruffled up his already messy bed hair for good measure. It was a morning ritual for the four friends. _Not that mornings should exist, in my opinion_, he thought. The other three would be up long before him _god knows why_ and Sirius would poke him a few times (with a predictable response) and then have to think of something much more drastic to actually rouse him, with a varying degree of results. _The least enjoyable of which was easily when he levitated the damn water jug and tipped the whole thing over my head, ice cubes and all_, James mused.

"I'd give that a seven and a half, Padfoot," he announced in a mock sincere voice as they finally left the dormitory and headed down the stone stairs to the Gryffindor common room.

"No way!" came his friend's response, in a genuinely disgruntled voice "That was easily an eight; you didn't see how high you jumped!"

"Whatever."

"So! Last day of school before Christmas, what do we have planned for today?" James could tell his friend was discreetly changing the subject, but happily went along with this line of conversation. They hadn't planned anything after all, which was quite unlike them.

The last day of the term was an opportune moment for pranks that none of them could resist. Well_, mostly Padfoot and I can't resist really,_ James added to himself. There was no way that they could be given more than one night's worth of detentions, as they only had one night left. Seeing that they had three weeks of holiday in front of them, everyone was in Christmas spirits anyway, even the teachers. Hopefully, anything they did would have been forgotten once they returned.

"It has to be better than last year," James announced, as if coming to a conclusion, as they stepped out of the portrait hole and proceeded along the fastest route to the Great Hall. He and the other three broke out into peals of laughter as they reminisced. The previous Christmas' prank had not been bad by any means. They had bewitched the many sprigs of mistletoe that various corridors and rooms were decorated with so that if a guy and a girl walked beneath them, their names would be screeched out in a deafening voice for the whole corridor (at least) to hear; only stopping when the next couple came along.

However, the marauders being very competitive in nature could never rest without topping their last effort. James walked in silence, an irregular occurrence in itself, deep in thought just like the other three. When they sat down in their usual places at the centre of the Gryffindor table, he still hadn't thought of anything worthy of beating last year. By the look of Sirius' furrowed brow, Peter biting his bottom lip, and Remus rolling his eyes but in thought nonetheless, they hadn't either.

---

Lily Evans looked up from her arithmancy book to butter another slice of toast, and started when she noticed the four familiar people sitting slightly further down the table. Something struck her as rather odd. A couple of seconds later, Lily realised that it was the absence of the noise and raucous that usually followed the four boys around. She narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked at them, studying their expressions of concentration. She was glad of the peace, of course, as it meant that she could read without the normal interruptions of hysterical laughter, and grapes being thrown down the table.

It wasn't a good sign, however. The marauders actually thinking could only mean one thing, and nobody could forget the events of this time last year. Shuddering at the thought of what they could be planning this year, as it could only be worse, she took a bite out of her toast and tried to concentrate on her book once more.

A shout a few minutes later made her look up, startled, from a rather complicated chapter. Turning to the source of the noise, she saw the unmistakeable form of Sirius Black with a grin on his face and arms up in the air as if in celebration.

"YES! I'VE GOT IT!"

Oh dear.

They were huddled together over the table now, all silence forgotten. Lily watched as they kept sending out precautionary glances to make sure nobody could hear them, not noticing that she was holding her toast over her goblet of orange juice, filling it with crumbs.

Deciding wisely that being as far away from the four troublemakers as possible was the best way to escape from their wrath, _not that anyone will be able to_, she sighed to herself, Lily marked her place in the book before putting it away in her bag and quickly getting up. On reaching the doors, she looked back to see the marauders still in the depths of their discussion.

It was only when she reached the door of her NEWT potions classroom and placed her bag on the floor as she waited outside in the corridor that she realised, with a sinking heart, that she shared the class with all four of them.

Damn.

Looking at her watch, she saw she was five minutes early. Seeing as she was at the front of the queue, she resigned herself to sit as far away from where Potter and Black usually sat as possible. _That's all I can do_, she thought angrily as she awaited the impending (and no doubt exceedingly embarrassing) doom of herself and the rest of the castle.

---

**This is quite a short chapter, and I couldn't resist ending it on that last line. However, any chapters I write for this in the future will probably (hopefully) be longer. You could call this a "pilot chapter" per-se. As this is my first fic I'm posting here I'd like to see people's reactions and know if any of you actually want me to write more. Yes, I have a plot. And no, it isn't a fluffy "someone goes to the past with a time turner and falls in love with someone" fic. Oh no -evil laugh-. So if you want more (and I'd like to write more) then let me know!**


	2. The Calm Before The Storm

**Chapter 2 – The Calm Before The Storm**

By the time the bell sounded and the classroom door simultaneously swung open, a queue had built up behind Lily. Without even having to look back she could tell the absence of the marauders due to the lack of noise, or confrontation between them Severus, their most hated enemy.

Severus was in her NEWT potions class; actually he was in most of her classes. In fact he was the only one who performed better than her at the subject. The only difference was that they never sat together any more, not since that day nearly two years ago. She pushed down the twinge of regret that threatened to rise up in her. He had chosen his way, and she had chosen hers, just like she had told him all that time ago. And he didn't seem to be any the worse off for her decision to break the friendship. He had his friends, Death Eaters in the making; no doubt he'd join them too. No, she would never forgive him.

But still she felt that twinge of regret rise up again, the regret for what he could have been without them. He wasn't an evil person, well he hadn't been, at least. She remembered the boy he used to be. He had changed. Merlin, she had changed too. Maybe if he had been in Gryffindor things would be different.

Anyway, there was no use dwelling on it. He had made it clear that he didn't care an ounce for her any more, and if he didn't, why should she?

Lily was first into the class, and purposefully chose a seat right at the back of the room, putting down her bag on the seat beside her to save it for her best friend and fellow Gryffindor, Victoria Hastings. She kept an eye on the row of four seats, right at the front of the class where the marauders always sat. It was safe to say that they would do so today as well.

As she watched the rest of her class mates stream into the classroom, Lily automatically arranged her things on her desk. She took her supplies out of her cauldron and arranged them neatly before her, her perfectionist nature taking over. Once her silver knife, text book, potions supplies and stirring rod were accounted for, she looked towards the door once more, as the last few people entered.

Pulling the bag off the seat beside her, she waved Victoria over before noticing who had come in after her blond friend. It was of course the four marauders, who by the looks on their faces were extremely pleased with themselves. She noticed that they must have run down to the potions dungeon due to their heavy breathing and red tinged cheeks.

Much to Lily's dismay, they claimed the four seats in the row right in front of hers. This could only bode badly. _There must be a reason they don't want to be at the front in full view_, she thought to herself with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance, _which means the whole class is probably going to get the worst of whatever they're up to._

Lily turned her attention back to the front of the room, as Slughorn shut the door with a flick of his wand, drawing in breath as if to attract attention to himself before he started to speak.

"I expect that you are all waiting in great anticipation for the start of your Christmas holiday, but I will remind you that the nature of the potions we brew in this NEWT potions class are of the utmost difficulty. Therefore, you will have to concentrate hard if you wish to brew to your highest standards. Nevertheless, it would be heartless of me to ignore the Christmas spirit."

He beamed at the students before him, letting his words sink in and creating suspense before he spoke again. "He has to make he's acknowledged every time he does the slightest good deed," Lily rolled her eyes inwardly. Not that she disliked the teacher, but he was just so predictable.

"So! Today we will be looking at chapter 12 'potions" he paused a second for dramatic effect "for the emotions'. Now these are a set of complicated potions. You may choose a potion from pages 207 to 215, but I suggest you brew one with suitably cheerful results. I will take in a small phial to mark at the end of the class as always, but I daresay you may want to try a smidgen yourselves" With a wink he added, "Page 207 of 'Advanced Potion Making' if you please."

Obediently, the class bent their heads, and Lily could hear the rifling of pages as people located the right instructions. She was more interested however in the reaction of the boys in front of her, namely Potter and Black. Their heads had bent together as Slughorn named the potion and they were now whispering hurriedly. _Not such a good sign_, Lily concluded, as a nudge of her arm brought her attention back.

Victoria was smiling slyly as she reached out in front of Lily and opened her book at the designated page. "Just can't keep your eyes off him," she chuckled in a low whisper.

"What?" exclaimed Lily, slightly louder than she had meant to once realising what her friend was implying.

"Oh come on Lily, you've been staring at them all lesson! Or should I say him?"

Lily had the strong urge to tell her friend that they had only spent about two minutes in the lesson so far, but decided that this would not deny the fact that she had been staring (subconsciously or not).

"Tor, you're my best friend and everything but that won't stop me saying shut up and stop being an idiot. And by 'him' which one did you mean anyway."

Pausing for a minute before replying and scanning the list of ingredients they would need, Victoria pulled forwards the bottles and bags of things they would need, and pushed the others to the side. "The one who worships the very ground you stand on of course." Lily was sure she detected a note of exasperation in her friend's voice.

"He's an egotistical idiot!" Lily protested, but this time at a slightly lower volume as she didn't particularly want the whole class to hear their conversation. _An egotistical idiot, but a good looking one all the same,_ she couldn't stop her brain adding silently. But it was true, nobody could deny Potter's looks even if his head was far too big and he hexed anything that moved, just because he could. She knew how obsessed he was with her as well (well of course he never shut up about it), but she looked for much more in a man than mere looks.

_Intelligence?_ her mind asked, _he has that too you know._

_He's a COMPLETE twat and that's that._

Victoria's raised eyebrow brought Lily back down to earth. Sighing, Lily began to explain her horrible feeling that the marauders had something unpleasant in store for the school that day.

---

As soon as he opened the book on the right page, James' face lit up as he scanned over the chapter's index. "Brilliant!" he breathed quietly, so only Sirius, who sat to his right, could hear. They wouldn't even have to pretend to be making the right potion for the class, and waste time hiding what they were doing from Slughorn. They needn't have chosen to sit near the back of the dungeon, though being inconspicuous for now wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing considering what they were planning.

"Right," came Sirius' voice from beside him, "Which four?"

James turned to see a devilish gleam in his friend's eye, and the faint trace of a smirk on his face, sure signs that they would soon be up to mischief. The grin that spread across the boy's handsome features told James that Sirius had noticed the same gleam in his eye. This was going to be fun. He looked down the list again, there were eight potions in all. His scrutinizing stare and quickly evaluating mind helped him work out which mixture of these potions would cause the most catastrophic effects.

"Wormtail, how about this 'Elixir to induce Euphoria' It looks like a relatively simple one?" James announced more than asked, his eyes still fixed on the book as he turned to the indicated page. Rapid nodding followed this statement, as Peter nearly knocked over a bottle of syrup of hellebore in his attempt to start his task as quickly as possible. Always so eager to impress, that boy.

"Moony, what about you?" James asked, turning to his left.

Remus had been slightly hesitant to go along with this prank to start with, but he had known he couldn't stop his friends and the rest of them made him come to his senses and agree to join in. "Well what are my choices?" the brown haired boy asked in a resigned tone. James could tell he still didn't approve.

"Well…'Aggravating Elixir' might be quite a good one," James pondered out loud.

"Perfect," said Remus, finally grinning at his friends. He looked over to James' book to see what page this was on, and opened his own copy of 'Advanced potion making' at the right page.

"And the 'Calming Draught' will do the trick for me," James murmured, "and…"

"The 'Anxious Unction' for me," Sirius interrupted, finishing James' sentence.

"Exactly, Padfoot my old friend."

The two exchanged a mischievous grin, and turned back to their cauldrons. As James pointed his wand and lit a blue flame underneath his, he added as an afterthought, "And double the ingredients!"

"One step ahead of you, mate," came Remus' voice to his left, at the exact same time Peter let out a strange noise resembling something between a grunt and a squeal.

"I just put the nettles away, and they sting every time you touch them!" he elaborated, sounding more than a little frustrated. All the same, he reached out and re-opened the small bag of the leaves.

"Good lad!" laughed Sirius, adding "I can't reach from over here, pat him on the shoulder for me will you Moony? But keep your voice down Wormtail, you're attracting attention."

James quickly turned his head around, and sure enough saw Lily Evans looking, no staring, at them through narrow eyes. When she noticed that he was looking straight back at her, she didn't blush and avert her eyes quickly, as girls usually did. She merely raised her eyebrow in a questioning way, still looking him in the eye. _Those green eyes…_ His mind was lost for a moment, before coming back to the ground in a thud of realisation.

_Oh crap. She suspects us, doesn't she?_

---

"An 'Aggravating Elixir' Mr. Lupin?" came the voice of Remus' professor as he stopped in front of the row of desks. "A little gloomy for the Christmas spirit, don't you think?"

Slughorn's immense stomach was at Remus' eye level, and he could see the button's on the man's forest green waistcoat straining for freedom. He forced himself to look up into his professor's eyes to avoid this not so pleasant sight. "Well sir, I thought this one looked the most difficult, so naturally it would need the most practice on." Remus easily kept his face straight, despite the muffled snickers that came from his side. "I mean, I wouldn't want to fail my potions NEWT just because of the holiday."

Apparently, this was so in-character that Slughorn merely chuckled, muttering something jovially about "dedication" and "good lad" before continuing to amble down the row of desks, inspecting the contents of other students' cauldrons.

"Oh so dedicated," Remus thought he heard an extremely quiet voice muttered under someone's breath in a slightly mocking tone. He turned, expecting to see James raising his eyebrows at him in that familiar (and slightly funny) eyebrow-raising way of his. To his surprise, both James and Sirius were too incapacitated by silent laughter to have uttered anything of the sort.

Shrugging, Remus turned back to his potion. He hadn't been lying, this was by far the most difficult potion of the section. Much to his relief, as he added his lacewing flies and stirred the potion twice anti-clockwise as stated by the instructions, it turned it exact shade of scarlet described._ Not loosing your touch, Moony, _he thought amusedly.

---

**A/N: Sorry this chapter has been kind of boring, not much action and all that but I wrote more than I thought before getting up to the actual prank. So instead of adding that all into this chapter and taking twice as long to update, I thought I'd give you this now.**

**Thanks for all your lovely reviews everyone! (I hasten to add all those things other authors say about reviews inspiring them to write, it's absolutely true!) I think this chapter is quite a bit longer than the last, and who knows they'll probably get longer as I go along.**


	3. A Day To Remember

**Chapter 3 – A Day to Remember**

An hour later, after the bell had rung to signal the end of the class, four boys were to be found walking down a flight of stone steps into a broad stone corridor, brightly lit with torches. Numerous students streamed past them, most decked in the yellow and black of Hufflepuff; their common room was obviously near by. Sirius could feel the twenty or so bottles of potion clinking in his bag at every step he took, and he could hear similar sounds coming from the bags of his three friends.

Paintings lined the walls, depicting various types of food ranging from drool-worthy to down right revolting. Sirius prodded Peter in the ribs as he walked past the boy who had stopped in front of a particularly appetizing scene involving a voluptuous woman and several toffee apples. "You'd think he'd never been down here before."

The crowd was thinning now; people had hurrying to the Great Hall in time for lunch to start in about five minutes. _Five minutes!_ Sirius thought._ Damn we're cutting it pretty fine._ He chivvied his friends along, ignoring Remus' and James' disgruntled mutterings as they told him to shut up and stop interrupting their rather interesting conversation about whether the bicorn parts they use as ingredients in potions were actually bicorn _'parts'_. They were "going plenty fast enough and didn't want to attract attention thank you very much".

They were cut off in mid complaint however, when they reached the familiar portrait of a bowl of fruit. Jabbing at the pear in haste, Sirius sighed impatiently as it turned bright red and refused to swing open. Jovially pushing him to the side (_slightly harder than necessary_, Sirius noted) James opened the door himself, and they stepped into the enormous kitchen with its high ceiling and over one hundred bustling house elves.

"I'll never get used to this place," came a voice to his right.

Sirius turned to see James grinning his head off as about ten house elves surrounded him.

"Nope, never," agreed Sirius, beaming back.

It was time to put their plan into action.

He elbowed Remus in the arm, indicating for him to begin his job. Poking and elbowing people had become kind of his thing lately. Exchanging a glance with James, he nodded almost imperceptibly, and then… 

"Where the hell has Peter gone?"

Then he noticed a shape moving in the corner of his eye. Over by the wall that was covered in various brass pots and pans, a plump figure stood surrounded by a crowd of house elves. He was taking a bite out of what looked like a chocolate éclair.

"WORMTAIL, GET YOUR FAT BACKSIDE BACK OVER HERE NOW."

A moment later, Peter was back by Sirius' side, having knocked several offended-looking house elves over in his wake. The boy was red faced, but out of embarrassment or the amount of exercise it had taken him to cross the kitchen in such a short amount of time Sirius was not sure.

"Idiot, now you've made them mad."

Wormtail grinned sheepishly, offering the remaining quarter of the offending éclair to Sirius, who stuffed it into his mouth causing his glare to lessen slightly. Once he had swallowed, he turned back to the house elves, readying himself to grovel himself back into their favour only to see that Remus had already taken liberty in doing so.

Soon the friendly creatures had forgotten all about being mown down moments before, and were engaged in animated conversation with the boy their voices even squeakier than usual. Sirius had to hand it with him, Remus sure had a gift with magical creatures, and they had always seemed so shy around humans. _Perfect_, he thought, and walked past his friend patting him on the back whilst winking to indicate that the plan was underway.

---

Remus continued to chatter animatedly to the ever growing group of house elves. They, being the marauders, had agreed that it would be his job to distract as many of the creatures as possible whilst the other three got up to their devious deeds. Remus knew of course that this was his friends' way of letting him go easy on his conscience, not being directly involved in the prank. They knew him too well, knew that whenever they did something like this he always had a niggling voice in the back of his head reminding him that he was a prefect and meant to stop this kind of thing.

It was all a load of bollocks though, he thought to himself. He was just as much to blame for whatever happened as they were, but was grateful for their consideration all the same. It hadn't effected him as much this year though, since James had become head boy. Now he wasn't the one that was supposed to be responsible_. But still… A_nyway that was mostly thereason he had agreed to this, he never would have a year ago but by now he had given up on trying to stop them, and had found some of their jokes actually quite amusing despite the inevitable guilt.

As Sirius and James kept reminding him, he just had to "let go of himself" and "stop being so uptight".

_I only have less than a year left at Hogwarts after all._

It was perfect timing. Out of the corner of his eye, Remus could see that the four long tables identical to those in the room above were laden with gold platters of food ready to be sent up for the Christmas feast that evening. His peripheral vision also made him notice the two of his friends (one tall and with a sporty physique, and the other noticeably shorter and more plump) walking around each of the tables following a couple of female house elves who were seemingly delighting in explaining about the food in question.

Little did the aforementioned elves know, a third boy was following them, the owner of the invisibility cloak that he now wore. Remus was glad for his ability to keep a straight face, as he saw a hand reach out from it and receive a phial full of a golden potion that Sirius had just surreptitiously pulled from the satchel over his shoulder and held out behind his back into the awaiting hand.

Those two were smooth. Realising that he had been staring in their direction for a little too long, Remus was nearly caught off guard by the fawning elves. "Yeah exactly!" he agreed with the expectant faces, not quite remembering what they had been talking about before but judging from their expressions that his answer was satisfactory.

"Well that fire is pretty impressive," he praised, gesturing towards the great brick fireplace that stood at one end of the kitchens, "do you keep it going all the time, or does it go out at night?"

Once again he was subjected to lengthy descriptions of the upkeep of the kitchens by over-eager house elves. Remus was surprised to find that it was all quite interesting, and didn't even have to feign interest. He had no trouble keeping up the conversation, and was only brought down to earth again when a strong hand clasped his shoulder and a voice muttered, "good work Moony," in his ear.

---

Half an hour later, chaos reigned over Hogwarts. Four seventh years sat at the Gryffindor table trying to suppress the uncontrollable laughter that was threatening to escape from them. Around them was a sea of faces. And they weren't just ordinary faces, they were multicoloured faces. _And by multicoloured, I mean red, blue, yellow and green,_ James thought, shoving a piece of bread in his mouth to stifle the laughter.

Not only had Remus successfully distracted nearly half the house elves (and that really was saying something) thanks to him the four of them also had enough uncontaminated food to eat for their own dinner without him even having to ask for it!

Not all of the colours at once, mind you. For example the inhabitants of the table the other end of the hall, closest the door, were sporting what looked like serious cases of jaundice. The funniest part of this was that this was the Slytherin table. However, the colour changing was only a small part of what was happening around the Marauders. This was only a cleverly added side effect…

The Slytherins had become Hufflepuffs.

Not properly, of course (especially seeing as real Hufflepuffs never actually had yellow faces), but they were as close as they would ever get. Their elixir to induce euphoria had seen to that. In contrast, the population of the Hufflepuff table, next to the Gryffindors', looked violently ill due to their green tinge. Well tinge was putting it mildly.

"I've never seen a Slytherin so happy!" Sirius nudged him, practically choking with silent laughter.

"Not without sneering," Remus added, with a smile playing across his lips. Much as he tried to stand for house unity, James knew his friend hated the Slytherins' attitudes as much as the rest of them. _Well he has good reason to, _James imagined their reactions if they ever found out aboutRemus_' _'furry little problem'. They were all just too bloody stuck up.

The change between the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws was less drastic, despite the blue and red faces that was. But it would have been hard to beat how opposite the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs usually were. _Unless of course we had done something with Gryffindor and Slytherin, but no way do they deserve to be like us, and there's no chance in hell I'm letting any Gryffindors sink to their level, _James noted. This was the best way.

They had given the Ravenclaws a calming draught. "Give the ol' Ravies a bit of the Gryffindor cool," Sirius had suggested at breakfast, "it'll do them good not to be so stressed about everything. I heard that Lisa girl worrying about the NEWTs the other day, I mean they're months away!" James snorted remembering the conversation. On any other day it would have lead onto a discussion of which Ravenclaw girls they thought were hot, but that morning they'd had too much hardcore planning on their minds.

The Gryffindors had been given an anxious unction, a taste of all the stress their blue and bronze clad classmates went through whenever they had homework due or a test coming up. So basically all the time.

When Sirius pointed across the hall, James could no longer hold back his laughter. In full view of everyone, none other than Severus Snape was tightly hugging a vigorously protesting Hufflepuff 5th year. The marauders' raucous laughter redoubled as said Hufflepuff boy gave Snape a hard slap in the face, leaving a large red mark which contrasted brilliantly with the yellow. How Gryffindor.

---

The only girl with her normal coloured face in the room surveyed the four imbeciles and decided enough was enough. It seemed Potter was just asking for a red cheek of his own. That could be easily arranged.

Lily marched down the length of the table, ignoring the various potion-inflicted panicking voices as she passed groups of people in conversation. Soon enough, she was standing behind Sirius Black, who was conveniently sitting opposite Potter whom she folded her arms and glared at. As soon as he noticed her, which was almost at once, his laughter stopped dead.

They stared at each other, her eyes as narrow as his were wide in shock. It didn't help that the other three were still doubled over with their obvious amusement, making rather a lot of noise. This suddenly stopped however, with her loud voice.

"So you think this is funny do you?" Lily practically screamed, still staring down the Potter prat.

There was an awkward silence as Potter tried to process her words, and come up with a suitably defensive and witty retort. Obviously this was too much work for him in his still stunned state, as all he managed was a, "well it is quite funny if you think about it."

Then he realised that this was not the wisest thing he could have said in the situation, and after a couple of seconds of blinking added, "Well what harm is it doing? It's just a bit of fun Evans!"

"Oh REALLY? And I suppose you haven't noticed that Henry Kirley just stabbed Jason Michaels in the arm with a fork! And I'm sure you're too stupid to have remembered Helena's asthma? She just had to be lead out to the hospital wing because she was having a panic attack! You're so INSENSITIVE!"

At this she turned on her heel and stormed out of the hall having decided that firstly she couldn't reach that far over the table to slap Potter without dangling her tie in a bowl of mashed potatoes, and secondly that it would be stooping to his level, something that she never intended to do. Instead she left him with his mouth wide open like a guppy fish, staring after her quickly retreating back.

Fists clenched she pushed her way out of the doors, red hair swinging behind her, and collapsed against a wall once she was sure she was out of sight. She breathed deeply, partly because she was out of breath, and partly due to the pent up emotion she had just unleashed. The she slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor with her back against it, and dropped her forehead onto her knees that were drawn up to her body.

_It had to be done. Nobody else was going to say anything, and I couldn't let them get away with being such idiots. Look what they've done! It's not my fault they act like puerile fools._

But the other side of her mind, the one that spoke in Victoria's voice, thought that this would be a good time to argue.

_You've blown it. He's going to hate you now._

_Who cares? It's not as if it won't be a relief if he stops stalking me! Good riddance! I had to. They'll just carry on doing things like this if nobody stops them. I had to._

_Really? You had to yell at James? You couldn't have just told them all that they were out of line, no you had to yell. And at James. Why only James? The others deserved it just as much._

_I had to._

A shout from the entrance to the Great Hall made her snap her head back up again.

"EVANS"

Potter was running through the doors, looking wildly around the Entrance Hall. Obviously looking for her. When he couldn't find her, he continued, pushing through the crowds of colourful students.

"Evans! Wait!" He kept scanning the people around him, but couldn't find the noticeable flame red hair. "Evans! Evans…Lily…"

She watched him stop only a few feet away from the very girl he was looking for, though she was against the wall, and he was in the middle of the room.

"Lily, wait! I'm sorry."

_Wow an actual apology_, Lily thought_, but does he expect me to believe that really means it?_

"I'm sorry," he repeated, then in a much quieter voice as if giving up, "Lily, I'm sorry…Lily, I love you."

If only he was looking down instead of up the marble staircase.

To give him his credit, he didn't simply give up and return to his celebrations and food, but started walking up the stairs. As he scuffed his feet along the floor, he muttered to himself.

"The common room…she might be in the common room."

Lily herself merely followed with her eyes until his shape was swallowed up by the crowds and she could see him no more.

---

**Sorry it's been such a long time! (please don't eat me) but I've started my GCSEs and I have so much work to do it's ridiculous. Aren't you glad I decided to post the chapter 2 when I did? Anyway this one's extra long to hopefully make up a bit for the wait, hope you like it! **

**Chapter 4 will be set in the Christmas holidays, but it might not be up for quite a while because of the exams, so don't hold your breath. Reviews will always motivate me though ;) Until next time.**


	4. Different Directions

**Chapter 4 ****–**** Different Directions**

"So we're meeting Moony in half an hour."

James was looking down at his silver watch that was glinting in the winter sun. It was the end of January, but, though bitterly cold, no snow had been seen over Christmas. The watch, which James had been given for his seventeenth birthday, read two O'clock in the afternoon.

"Where abouts?" asked Sirius, who was walking at James' side.

"Leaky Cauldron I think. Feel like a trip to Quality Quiddich Supplies?"

"If I must," Sirius grinned back.

"Great!"

The two boys pushed their way through the crowds of Diagon Alley, scarves shielding their faces from the biting wind. The weather really was contrary this Christmas, James was thinking to himself, looking up into the sky. But he immediately looked down again with watery eyes, and pulled his hood up to try to protect his face from the wind that was threatening to batter ever inch o it. The sun was bright, yet the weather was colder and windier than it ever was when it snowed.

He looked to his side to see that Sirius was laughing at him, the oh-so-familiar boyish grin lighting up his casually good looking features. With a playful punch on the arm and an "oi you're going to pay for that" the two friends turned into what was, and had always been, James' favourite shop.

Or at least they tried to, except the shop was packed full of people, who had obviously had the same idea of getting out of the cold. James found that he could hardly move an inch. "Great, bloody great," he thought, and pulled Sirus back out of the shop into the rapidly emptying street.

"Flourish and Blotts?" suggested Sirius, but as they looked across the street they saw that that too was overflowing"

"Blimey."

"Well put, Padfoot."

"Um, well I could do with a few new quills..."

They set off up the street. But every shop they passed, just like the first two, were filling up with people as the wind grew stronger and stronger. By the time they had reached the end of the street, large drops of rain had started falling from the sky.

"Oh damnit," complained James, before, "OF COURSE!"

He had just had a brilliant idea. It was, in fact, laughable that an entire shopping street full of witches and wizards hadn't tried it.

"Right. Where's my wand?"

He searched through his pockets until he found the offending object, and pointed it at Sirius who had his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, obviously wondering what the hell James was up to.

"Hold still Padfoot, this won't hurt a…"

"If it does I'll-" Sirius interrupted, but was interrupted in turn when James waved his wand and muttered an incantation.

"Impervio!"

According to the look of surprise on Sirius' face, James concluded that his spell must have worked. Grinning, he performed the repelling charm on himself, and even though he knew it was coming, the feeling of a blanket being draped over him and banishing the wind and rain rather surprised him.

"Where now then?"

James, who didn't bother to keep the smug look off his face, shrugged. They set off back down the street which was now practically deserted. They had only taken a few strides, and were passing the dark entrance to an alleyway leaking off the empty street, Sirius let out a yelp.

"Sirius! Wha-"

And then James felt it too. The wind had buffeted its way through their protective shields and the rain, even harder now, thundered down on their heads. Hmm, so that was why everyone else was inside. Knowing that all the shops would be full and that they were too far away from the Leaky Cauldron to make a break for it, James made a split second decision and dragged Sirius into the alleyway and straight into the first shop he saw. It was mercifully empty, void of even a shopkeeper.

In the relief of getting out of the rain, it took a minute for James to notice, after having wiped the rain out of his face and cast a drying charm on his hair, where exactly they were. The shop was dark like the alley, and he hadn't bothered to read the sign before they had rushed inside, so he had no idea what the place was even called. For a second, James wondered if the shop was even open, before realizing that if it wasn't then the door would have been locked.

"Where the hell are we?" James thought, and turned around to make sure that Sirius was still with him. Sure enough, his friend stood behind him, staring into the shadows with a frown upon his face.

"Sirius, wh-" James began

"I've been here before."

"What?"

"My parents. This place sells dark magical artifacts. Whatever you do, just don't touch anything. Quick, we can appa-"

Then several things happened at once.

James picked up an odd looking object from the table beside him at the same time he felt Sirius grab hold of his shoulder and pivot on the spot, apparently expecting his friend to do the same. There was a loud "CRACK" and James was thrown off balance as everything went black and he felt as if his insides were being put through a mangle.

---

Sirius lifted his head up from the ground, feeling a dull ache in his skull that made his eyes water. There was something wet trickling down his face.

Blood?

No, but it was cold. Opening his eyes properly, Sirius started at his surroundings.

He was sprawled on the ground in the snow. Snow? The weather must have changed pretty quickly. But how did it have time to get so thick? There were at least five inches of the stuff. "But…" thought Sirius, " should probably count myself lucky for the soft landing."

Robed legs swarmed past him, but as he turned his head he saw a pair of boots that were stationary. Looking upwards, he saw that sure enough there was a pair of legs attached to the boots. He followed the figure upwards with his eyes, only to see the face of a pretty witch looking down at him.

"So you're alive then?" She teased.

"Um…yeah…that seems to be the case," he grinned sheepishly up at her and accepted the outstretched hand that pulled him to his feet with surprising strength.

"Thanks…"

"Lisa," she completed his sentence, pointing a finger at the name tag that was pinned to the front of her robes.

"Right. Thanks Lisa."

"You know, I was just on my way back to work after lunch, and here was a huge cracking sound and you practically flew into me!" she giggled lightly as she reached the end of her recount. Sirius felt a warmth rising to his cheeks, and he was hardly one to get embarrassed most of the time. "Great," he thought. "Well that adds a new dimension to the term 'collapsing at someone's feet' doesn't it. And in full view of the whole of Diagon Alley and god knows who. Great way to pick up women Padoot."

"And how long…?" Sirius tailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

"Oh only for a few seconds," she reassured him. "Anyway, are you okay now?"

"Yeah, fine, head just hurts a bit, thanks. I didn't hurt you did I?"

"Nah I'm fine." Her face lit up slightly as if she had just had an idea. "Why don't you come back to the shop, I'm sure there'll be something there for your head. I work at the apothecary," she added, at Sirius' raised eyebrow.

"Great," Sirius nodded before following the brunette down the street.

Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. But hang on, the accident had made him forget completely. Where the hell had James gone? "Oh well," Sirius thought as he weaved through the crowd. "He can wait."

---

"Hey! YOU! Get up!"

James was roused by the loud, unfriendly, and apparently very close voice. Only then did he realize that he was lying on a hard wooden floor. Pulling himself gingerly into a sitting position and wincing at the pain in his limbs, James attempted to look around. It was then he noticed that everything was blurry. "Glasses, damnit," he thought as he groped around the cold wooden floor around him to try and locate them.

"What are you doing apparating into my shop, kid?"

James didn't register the words for a moment as he finally located his glassed and managed to put them on. The room was much lighter than it had been earlier, which he put down to the appearance of the angry shopkeeper.

It was also dinstinctly shabbier than he had thought it to be at first.

"HEY! Answer me!"

"What?" James glanced up at the large snarling man that towered above him.

"AND WHAT'S THAT YOU'RE HOLDING? WHERE DID YOU GET IT?"

"What?" James stared blankly up at the ruddy, steadily reddening face.

"OUT! PUT THAT BACK AND GET OUT OF MY SHOP!"

James scrambled to his feet and went to put the dusty object back on the table. However, the space that he had taken it from only moments before was no longer vacant. Confused, James put whatever it was on the corner, eager to escape from the wrath of the scowling shopkeeper, and wrenched the door open. He stepped out into the snow, and promptly sunk up to his ankles.

Completely flummoxed, James pulled his feet out and began to trudge as quickly as possible, which wasn't so fast at all in such deep snow, out of the darkened alley. As he went he absent mindedly wiped his hands on his jeans to get rid of the dust that had come off the cold metal surface of the object.

He figured that Sirius would have the common sense, since James noticed he was nowhere in sight, to go back to the Leaky Cauldron at half past two. Then they could meet Remus and have few drinks. Exactly what he needed. "I hope Sirius landed as hard as I did, shoving off and leaving me on the floor like that," James laughed for no particular reason, since he was pretty sure he'd be covered in bruises tomorrow by the feel of it.

His watch read quarted past two. Time to pop into Quality Quiddich Supplies then. Hopefully it wouldn't be so full anymore considering the bustling street and (somewhat miraculous) abundance of snow, and lack of brutal wind and rain.

Nearing the shop, he was distracted by another that looked like a rainbow had exploded on it. There were colours everywhere, banners and signs scattering the door and windows advertising amazing and exotic products. A joke shop! concluded James, reading the red and gold sign above the door, immdeiately pushing it open and walking in. He chose to ignore the preposterous notion that was niggling at the back of his mind. It was that this shop had popped out of nowhere, since he difinately hadn't seen it earlier.

It was full of shoutingand laughing, children gasping and nudging each other to point out box after box of marvelous goods. Parents called out to their children, making sure they didn't touch the more dangerous looking displays.

James wandered through the crowd, trying to take in everything he saw. "I wish," he muttered to himself, "That I could buy all of this stuff." Reaching a row of violent purple boxes, he began to read the label. He had just got to " Instantaneous Hair Growth" when a voice called out right behind him and a hand slapped him on the back.

"HARRY!"

---

"Yeah much better!"

Sirius handed the empty bottle back to Lisa, who cleaned it with a flick of her wand and added it to a row of identical potion bottles.

"Thanks a bunch."

"No problems," sheflashed a smile at him, "it's not every day someone apparates on top of you." And by someone with your looks, she added in her head. Because he was in her opinion, quite a looker to say the least. Even with his rain drenched hair and robes (but it wan't even raining...well it must have been wherever he apparated from).

His voice came from over her shoulder. "Actually I could do with stocking up, I've run out of Runespoor Fang, old Sluggy said we'd be needing it after Christmas."

"Oh, you're at Hogwarts then?" Lisa asked, turning back around to speak to him. She immediately made her mind up that dry, he was even better looking. He had obviously just used a drying charm on himself. It was odd though, she thought she would have remembered if she had seen him before. Then again, he did look vaguely familiar, but she just couldn't place his face.

"Yeah, seventh year, Gryffindor." He grinned and held out his hand, "Sirius."

She shook it, witha short laugh, and replied, "Oh! You mean like Sirius Black?" She had read about that story in the Prophet. First of all she had been petrified, just like everyone else. But when the truth had come out a couple of years later, and it had been too late...well it was tragic. Funny though, she had thought 'Sirius' was quite an unusual name.

"Yeah." He frowned slightly at the name 'Black' and she assumed that he was considering his namesake's tragedy too.

"I left Hogwarts two years ago," she said, as much to break the silence as anything else. "Ravenclaw," she added, "that's probably why I've never met you."

He nodded. "Yeah, James - " Sirius started, before... "Oh crap! What's the time?"

Lisa, wondering what had triggered this sudden outburst, indicated the potion bottle-shaped clock on the wall. It read a quarter to three, and she was surprised to see Sirius' reaction. It was as if someone had pressed the fast forward button on his remote control.

"Oh crap I was supposed to meet him five minutes ago! I need to see if James is ok! Damnit I still need that Runespoor fang! Okay I can come back here afterwards for that thanks so much for your help I have to run now see you later bye!"

And with that he pulled the door open and disappeared from sight, leaving a bewildered Lisa with her advice of "You could always just apparate," still on her lips. Then again, that might not be such a good idea considering what had happened last time he had tried that, she thought.

Oh well, he'd be back.

---

"Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap!"

Sirius ran as fast as it was possible to do so through the snow that had deepened even in the shot space of time he had been inside.

He would only be twenty minutes lage. Why would that even matter? Twenty minutes, who cares? But James...Sirius was surehe'd be there. The guy had common sense. But Sirius wasn't naive. He knew what kinds of dark magic resided in that little shop down Knockturn Alley. And it wasn't good. The one time his apparition had gone wrong...but of course that could just be a coincidence, couldn't it?

Well James was capable enough of looking after himself. It was Remus that Sirius was worried about.

Remus Lupin, who depended on his friends, who feared rejection every second of the day, who had always done. Remus Lupin, who had taken so long to build up his trust with them. Remus Lupin, who was the most punctual person Sirus had ever met, who couldn't believe that anyone could be late for anything if it wasn't on purpose. Remus Lupin who had probably given up and gone home by now, or who was sitting on his own in the Leaky Cauldron, with that lonely dejected look on his face.

Sirius shook his head to try and get rid of the viviv image of his friend. Of course he'd be fine, but Sirius continued to hurry all the same.

Panting slightly, Sirius pushed open the door of the popular pud and walked inside. It was relatively crowded, just as he had always remembered it, but even after scanning the troom for a full minute he still had not located the familiar mousey head.

Maybe he was hidden behind a group of people. Yeah that must be it. Sirius squeezed between a gaggle of giggling witches and began to walk around the preimeter, standing on his tiptoes and scouting around between groups of laughing friends and families.

After he had nearly completed a full circle, he still had not found anything. Or anyone as the case may be. Then he saw something else that shot any thoughts of Remus from his head. The back of a head of tousled black hair that he would have recognised anywhere. But it wasn't just that. James, who was sitting at the bar, had his arm around the waist of a slight red haired girl. There was no question as to who.

A grin spreading across his face, Sirius raced over to the pair, accidentally knocking the shoulder of a drisgruntled looking old witch causing her drink to fly to the floor, but not noticing a thing.

"James! Lily! Finally! It took you guys long enough!" Evans had obviously come to her senses at last.

She spun around first, a split second before James, and Sirius looked into the brown eyes and freckled face of...that wasn't Lily. He looked from her startled face to James'. But that wasn't him either. And his expression was, if possible, even more surprised than hers. The emerald green, almond shaped eyes were wide as he stared into those of Sirius.

---

**So here's the (long awaited) chapter 4. And a few days earlier than I promised, even better! I'm not even back from my holiday yet, but since I had so much feedback, I've made more of an effort to type bits up whenever I've found a computer. A bit of action, I hope you liked it, let me know if you did (or even if you didn't!) because this is living proof that reviews and suchlike will make me work faster. **

**I have the next two chapters written out already, so they should be typed and up relatively promptly once I'm back (Saturday). I'm also going to tweak a couple of things in the first couple of chapters, so I'll let you know when that's done, in case you really want to re-read them (but they probably won't be anything major, just a sentence here and there). **

**One more thing, I apologise for any typos you might have found. I typed this without spellcheck for the most part, and I have checked it through, but I am human, and I probably have missed things. (If you did catch any, I'd be grateful if you could point them out to me so I can fix them asap!)**


	5. Clash Of The Titans

**Chapter 5 – Clash of the Titans**

"Harry I thought you'd be here, I just wanted to tell you that Herm –"

James spun around to face the boy that stood before him, who immediately stopped in his tracks.

"Huh?"

"OH! Sorry! I'm really sorry, I just mistook you for…but you look almost exactly the same…"

The red headed teen's face was steadily growing redder than his hair.

"Err…no worries?"

James shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable under the scrutinizing stare. The boy was looking at him through narrowed eyes as if trying to work out how he had mistaken him for this 'friend'.

"But…but…you're practically identical!"

James took a step back, but had forgotten that a shelf stood directly behind him. "Ouch!" A purple box had fallen from a high shelf and landed straight on his head. He rubbed his head, and looked back up at the redhead, for he was at least a few inches taller than James.

The bump had obviously knocked the boy out of his state of shock, for he bent down, picked up the offending box from the floor, and leaned up to put it back on the shelf.

"Brilliant stuff they have here," he laughed, "but you have to watch out for the sharp corners."

"Yeah, well I'll bear that in mind in the future." James replied with a smile, and ran a hand through his hair. It was really a reflex action, whenever he did something stupid, the hand automatically went to the hair. That, or of he walked past anyone of the female variety.

The redhead's eyes widened at this, as if connecting the action with something in his mind. But his face cleared almost immediately.

"But like you said, great shop! Never seen it before though, it must be pretty new."

"No…it's been here nearly three years, my brothers own it…my brother owns it." He pointed at the label on the box he'd just replaced that read _Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes. _They started it up after they left Hogwarts half way through their seventh year. But now.."

He blinked rapidly, as if fighting back tears, or was James just imagining that? But when he spoke, his voice was full of emotion.

"…Now…" his voice was choked.

He coughed and closed his eyes tightly for a second, shaking his head as if to banish an unwanted thought.

"It's brilliant isn't it…" he trailed off feebly.

"Yeah…but I'm positive I didn't see it in August when I was buying my Hogwarts supplies," James began, baffled with both the mystery of the shop and the boy's strange actions. "And if it's been here for three years, I'm pretty sure-"

"You go to Hogwarts?" The interrupting voice was incredulous.

"Of course I do! Where else would I go? Durmstrang? Not likely." James was bewildered. Why was it so amazing that he should be at Hogwarts?

"And you're in…."

"Gryffindor. Seventh year."

The jaw dropped even lower.

"But…"

"What?!" James was fed up with the air of mystery around the boy. "What's so shocking about all this?" Seriously, it was really unnerving.

"Well," he took a deep breath, "you turn up here, and you're practically identical to him, apart from the eyes." He carried on speaking as James tried to interrupt. "You're in the year below me at Hogwarts, in the same house, but I've never seen you in my life." He was stating the points in a matter-of-fact tone, counting them on his fingers. "You say you've never seen this shop before, even though it's the brightest shop in Diagon Alley, and you've been here how many times in three years? And you do that hair thing that Harry said-"

But finally James managed to interrupt.

"_I turn up_?! I have every right to _turn up_" James used his fingers as quotation marks around the offending words, "Wherever hell I fancy! So what if I've never been in this shop before? So what if we've never met? We're not even in the same year! And…I do what with my hair?"

James ran a hand through his hair, just to make sure that there was nothing wrong with it. What was this guy on about? Or what was he on, as may be the case.

"What's your name?"

"What?" James was baffled by this sudden turn in the questioning. He noticed that this word had become the most prominent in his vocabulary of late.

"Your name! Tell me your name!" His voice became increasingly more urgent.

"Alright! Okay, calm down, it's James."

"I KNEW IT! JAMES POTTER!"

"Ye-what? How did you…" Then something clicked and he didn't bother to keep the accusatory tone out of his voice. "You just said you'd never even seen me before, but you know my name! What the hell is going on?"

James was so caught up in the shouting and confusion that he didn't notice the people around them were stopping and staring at the pair, others walking past and giving them a wide berth.

"You have to come with me!" The ginger boy held out this arm, obviously anticipating side-along apparition. Ha, no way.

"What? No! I don't 'have' to do anything!" James used the quotation marks again. "I'm innocently browsing in a shop, then you come along and hit me, accuse me of being someone else, practically start crying, shout at me, then demand I go somewhere with you. And you won't even explain what the bloody hell is going on! Why in the name of Merlin's balls would I go anywhere with you?"

James crossed his arms defiantly, and looked into the eyes of the other boy, only then realising that something was wrong. A look of incredulous fury had spear across his face. James had obviously hit a nerve. Well what he'd said was true, James didn't see why he should get so angry,

"Practically cried, did I?" The voice was poisonous, no longer loud and frantic, but calm and deadly. "Well sorry," it was dripping in sarcasm. "I didn't realise I was supposed to be happy that my brother's fucking dead!"

Oh shit.

It seemed as if the whole shop had come to a stand still, everyone holding their breaths and straining to hear.

_Damn you James, think before you speak,_ he scolded himself. _Didn't Lily ever teach you anything, you fool?_

Wanting to look anywhere but at the boy standing resolutely before him, James scanned the frozen crowd of people surrounding them. A ruby read hat pointed to the ceiling out of the sea of faces, and James' eyes looked into the freckled face beneath it.

The young man had stopped in his tracks half way between the counter and the arguing pair. He frowned, then reached out to grab something (or somethings, James' view was blocked) from a nearby display and dropped it onto the floor.

Nothing happened in the next ten seconds, which felt like a lifetime of near silence.

James turned back to face the redheaded boy, and opened his mouth to speak.

At once there was a loud bang and a cloud of smoke drifted up from the corner of the room. A second bang with the same effect happened instantaneously in the opposite corner.

The shocked silence was shattered at once. People squealed and yelped, grabbed their children, and hurried to get out of the door as quickly as possible. Some looked away from James and the boy, embarrassed to be caught staring, and quickly pretended to examine the shelves nearest them. Others, unfortunate enough to actually be in said corners, coughed and spluttered, bumping into one another in their efforts to escape the smoke.

In the reigning chaos, the two boys were joined by the young man in the hat.

"Thanks George," the redhead seemed to relax, his shoulders drooping, "that was getting…awkward."

"That might be a slight under exaggeration, but no problemos all the same oh brother of mine. But I couldn't help hearing your…erm…heated discussion Ron. Well neither could the rest of the shop by the look of it. Nosy sods."

Then he turned to James, the younger brother still resolutely refusing to look at him however.

"You aren't Harry."

"Um…no, I think we settled that already." James wasn't sure, for once in his life, whether it was appropriate to laugh or not. Probably not.

"But Ron just said you were…what the hell's going on?"

"Beats me." James shrugged, saw the elder brother (George wasn't it?) turn to Ron, and did the same.

"Erm…"

"Brilliant explanation, Ron! As always, your skills of eloquence live up to their expectations in times of need."

The boy called Ron swatted playfully at his brother's arm, murmuring something that sounded like "shurrup". Then he stated, "We seem to have a slight problem on our hands."

"Really? You don't say! I never would have guessed."

"We have to find Harry."

"Okay fine. Hang on, I'll just tell Verity to mind the shop."

James looked from one brother to the other, following their conversation until the older one stepped away from the other, and walked into the back room of the shop.

"Hang on! You still haven't told me what's going on! I'm not going anywhere!" James found his voice again.

"I can't explain here!"

"Well I'm not coming."

"Fine."

_Finally, he was going to explain._ But James was wrong.

"What do you know about…umm." He thought for a moment. "…Ginny Weasley."

"Who?"

"My point exactly."

James was lost. Completely and utterly lost. His expression must have shown this, because Ron stopped waiting for a repy, and carried on speaking.

"She's my sister, and a Gryffindor seventh year. Therefore she must be your classmate. Tell me something about her."

James was still nonplussed.

"I have no idea who the hell you're talking about. But I could hazard a guess that she's ginger maybe? Anyway there is no Ginny Weasley in my year. You must have made a mistake."

"Exactly."

"Exactly what? She is ginger?"

"No!" Ron looked completely exasperated. "Well yes, but exactly, you don't know her, do you?"

"Well that's what I just said! What's going on!?"

"Look, come with us and we'll explain it all. We can't do it here, we need Harry."

George had rejoined the group, and began to try to usher them out of the door, which Sirius didn't take to all too kindly, and kept his feet firmly in place.

"But I can't come with you! I have to…oh crap! I was supposed to meet Moony and Prongs! Damnit, I bet I'm really late now!"

George stopped in his tracks. "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs! That's you guys isn't it, wow, I never knew! Wow!"

"What? How do you-"

"No time!" Interrupted Ron, "We'll explain in a minute." And he took over George's job of trying to get them all out the door.

"But I have to go to _The Leaky_-"

"We're going to _The Leaky Cauldron_! Just get out the effing door!"

"Fine! I'm coming!"

And they stepped outside into the snow.

---

"Um…I'm just going to the ladies."

The-girl-who-wasn't-Lily smiled reassuringly at her companion before disappearing into the crowd.

The bow was still staring at him wide eyed. Sirius began to feel uncomfortable under the penetrating gaze, so opened his mouth to speak.

"Sirius?" The voice that had come first was barely more than a whisper. Sirius didn't register the words for a second, and started to speak himself.

"Sorry, I thought you were someone…what did you just call me?"

Had he said Sirius? Well he was quite well known throughout the school. Why shouldn't this random guy know his name? But it was the way in which he'd spoken. The tone was imploring, amazed, and even hopeful. Sirius looked up and saw a shadow of longing on his face. It was, to be honest, slightly disturbing.

"Yeah, that's me." Sirius did his best to sound cool.

The boy's face lit up, as if he'd just downed a tankard of butterbeer. But almost instantly it was replaced with a frown.

"How did you get here?"

"I walked! But I don't see what that's got to do with anything."

"What? No I mean how did you get _now_?"

Sirius had no idea what on earth the boy was talking about. _How did he get now_, what was that supposed to mean? The boy obviously read this on Sirius' face, because he sighed, and said, "Sit down." Without it crossing his mind not to do so, Sirius sat on the bar stool the young woman had just vacated.

The boy…well actually 'young man' would probably be a better description, caught Tom the landlord's attention, who promptly placed a bottle of butterbeer in front of Sirius.

"Okay well you probably don't want to ear this. Hell, you might not even believer me." James, _no he's not James_, Sirius reminded himself, began.

Sirius felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. This didn't sound too promising. But something about the young man stopped him from just getting up and leaving. Perhaps it was the way that he looked exactly like James, except each of this features was the slightest bit off. But those eyes. Sirius was positive he recognised them, but even as he racked his brains he couldn't remember where.

"What year do you think it is?"

Sirius was caught off guard. He had been busy studying the James-like face.

"Huh? Well it's 1977 of course, isn't it?"

"Well no, that's the problem. It's 1999."

"No it's not, it's 1977…"

"This is probably against the rules, damn if only Hermione was here, but whatever." _Is he talking to me or is he talking to himself,_ Sirius wondered, _probably the latter. The rules of what, anyway? It's not like we're playing chess or anything. _Sirius looked surreptitiously under his bar stool just in case. There was no chess board to be seen. When he looked up again, the boy had extended a hand in greeting.

"I'm Harry Potter."

_No. Way._ Sirius' jaw dropped. Dazed, he took the outstretched hand and shook it. "Sirius Black."

"I know."

"But…but I don't believe this! How am I…How do you…Harry Potter?"

The boy, Harry, nodded sombrely. "And this is Ginny, Ginny Weasley." The girl had reappeared at his side.

"Hi Sirius," her voice was nervous. "Harry, Ron's late," she continued, holding out her wrist so he could look at the watch.

Thoughts were rushing manically through Sirius' head. He was in the future? This was some relation of James'? What if…could he be James' kid? Realisation dawned. The eyes! He had Lily's eyes! But this couldn't be true. He couldn't have time travelled, that was impossible without a time turner, and he certainly didn't have one of those.

"He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago." Who was she talking about? But on the subject of being late_…crap! James!_ Looking back, Sirius tried to work out when the time travel, assuming this guy, Harry, was right, had occurred. When he'd tried to apparate, it must have been! But what if it had happened before that? If it had been earlier that day, then James was somewhere in A:DSFLSKDF too. But if it had been when they were in Knockturn Alley, then for all Sirius knew, his best friend had been catapulted into 1066. Fuck. This was a dilemma and a half.

Sirius was distracted from his thoughts by another person approaching. That was probably a good thing, because if he tried to figure this out any more, his brain was in danger of exploding.

_This must be the guy they were just talking about_, Sirius thought, _right on cue. _

Looking from this Ron character to the girl, Sirius decided that they were most definitely related; he had the same red hair and freckled face as her. Glad that his brain was still able to function, Sirius tuned into their conversation.

"Harry, we have a-"

"Problem?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

Sirius's attention was torn from the conversation once more by the arrival of yet another similarly freckled face. This figure was sporting an impressive pointy red hat that covered his earl so only a few telltale tufts of red hair could be seen. And behind him, walking in his wake…

"JAMES!"

"SIRIUS!"

Sirius jumped down from his stool and the two embraced like brothers. The people around them, Harry and the others, had silenced, staring dumbfounded as if they had just confirmed the impossible. Which, in fact, they probably had. After all the confusion, Sirius was more glad than he could have imagined to see a familiar face. Ad by that he meant a familiar face that belonged to the person he thought it did.

James had turned back to the boy called Ron, and started to speak. "Now, would you mind explaining what exac-"

Then he stopped in the middle of the sentence as if someone had switched his off button. Sirius followed his line of vision and realised in an instant that his friend must have seen his doppelganger, his…Sirius couldn't begin to comprehend the idea, but…his son.

Harry was staring back at James, and identical expression on his (practically) identical face.

When the silence started to become a bit awkward, Sirius tore his eyes from the look-alikes and looked at each of the three redheads in turn. All of them were staring intently at James and Harry, evidently understanding something significant that he had no idea about. They didn't look as if hey were going to show signs of life any time soon.

Deciding he had to take matters into his own hands, Sirius cleared his throat loudly. The result would have been comical in any other circumstance.

The young man with the hat and his slightly shorter probably-brother practically jumped out of their skin. Ron's ears went bright red as he looked down at his shoes as if he had been caught in the middle of doing something he shouldn't have. The older one let out a nervous laugh, but the hat covered his ears so Sirius couldn't be sure if they had gone red too. The girl had quickly averted her eyes, and was now scanning the room.

James and Harry continued to stare wide-eyed at one another. It was Harry who made the first move, presumably because he had a much more clear idea of what was going on than James did, as he was still in a state of shock by the look of him.

Harry spoke in a weak voice, after looking to Sirius and back at James again. "This is one bitch of a problem."

His statement seemed to break the ice slightly, as everyone let out a nervous laugh. The girl stepped forwards determinately, looking at Harry, and said, "It's too crowded here, do you reckon we should go back to the Burrow? Then we can try to figure this…mess…out from there."

Sirius would have agreed and thought her idea very sensible but for the small fact that he had no idea what on earth the Burrow was. However, she was right; The room was bustling and they wouldn't be able to hold a proper conversation, that was for sure. Then again, if they intended to go to an actual burrow, then he would rather stay here with a large firewhisky thank you very much. Enough crazy things had happened that day, none of which he fully understood. So he wouldn't put it fast his luck for this to be true.

Who knew what these crazy future people did.

However, the rest were agreeing with Ginny's plan. All except James, who was looking from Harry to Sirius and back again with that incredulous look still plastered on his face.

Sirius shrugged, and shot his friend an _I-don't–know-what-the-hell's-going-on-either_ look, which might not have been entirely true because James was even more puzzled than Sirius by the looks of it. Judging by his reaction to Harry, he hadn't been told what was coming.

If it were true that they were in the future, which seemed pretty undeniable now, how couldn't it be after the truth? Anyway, if it were true, then there was nowhere else they could go anyway. So, his mind still buzzing, he nodded along with everyone else.

At least then they might get some more explaining done.

As they crossed the room to the large fire on the opposite side, James voiced Sirius' thoughts.

"Thank god we're not apparating."

---

**It seems that each chapter is getting longer and longer than the last. Seriously, the next chapter is longer than this one. I might break it up, but that probably won't work, so we'll just wait and see when I've typed it up. I guess you won't be complaining about chapters being long though.**

**The modifying of the beginning is done now, I've changed the introduction, re-written the bit right at the beginning of Chapter 2, and just edited some random punctuation and typos throughout the first three chapters.**

**Like I said, chapter 6 has already been written, it just needs to be typed. You know how to make me work faster.**


	6. Conflict At The Burrow

**Chapter 6 – Conflict At The Burrow**

They were now sitting in a considerably more comfortable living room, and everyone had calmed down as much as was possible in the situation with the aid of a mug of tea each, administered by the flustered Mrs. Weasley.

Harry was sitting on one of the sofas, Ginny to one side of him, and James on the other. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were sitting in armchairs opposite him. On the other sofa were Sirius and Ron, and George was sat on the floor in front of the fire.

As predicted, it was much easier to think straight in a warm and comfortable room, and they were deep in conversation.

James and Sirius, Harry still couldn't believe that they were right here in the same room as him, had taken the information as well as could be expected. This was especially surprising seeing as they'd had little time to digest the fact of the time travel before they had arrived here.

Molly and Arthur had been astounded at the pair who had arrived, sooty and bewildered, in the fire an hour before. They had recognised the newcomers at once, and after staring in shock for what had seemed like an hour or two had been forced to snap out of it by the build up of bodies squashed into the fireplace behind the two boys. Molly had bustled everyone into the living room, and disappeared into the kitchen to reappear moments later pressing hot mugs of tea into their hands.

They had all shared what information they had. Harry found out how Ron had found James, which had caused more than a little laughter at what they all agreed was one of Ron's typical bouts of stupidity. They were even reasonably sure about when the time travel had taken place. The problem was, they were no closer to finding the answer as to why.

"So you went into Borgin and Burkes," Ron repeated for what seemed like, and probably was, the seventeenth time.

"Yes," nodded Sirius, "and I told James not to touch anything, because I…well I remember being there once with my mother," a note of bitterness stole into his voice. "I think I was about six. I remembered this necklace I saw, opal or something, anyway it was cursed. So I said not to touch anything, because you never know with these dark magic places, especially since it wasn't lit."

"It was dark?" Harry interjected. It was the first time he had heard that detail.

"Yeah," Sirius went on, "So I grabbed James' shoulder so we could apparate the hell out of there-"

"At the exact same time I picked something up," finished James. "And then there was a crack, I ended up on the floor, and Sirius had gone."

"But it was light then wasn't it? Because you said…" Ron trailed off, the gears of his mind obviously hard at work. "So why didn't you look at what you were holding?" Ron's voice was incredulous.

"Well I didn't realise I had gone twenty two years into the future, did I? It's not the kind of thing you think of when you're on the floor being yelled at by an obese madman, is it?"

"Hmm I dunno Prongs, it sounds like your usual Saturday nights to me," Sirius teased, rapidly covering his head with his arms, having earned himself a slap over the head as everyone burst out laughing. Ron was too busy gaping at James' obvious mental arithmetic skills to continue pressing his point.

"As I was saying," James scowled pointedly at Sirius, who only blinked and looked innocently back at his friend, "I just assumed Sirius had apparated away and knocked me over or something. It's the kind of thing you'd expect, the clumsy git." He grinned at his friend, who's face was full of indignation and had opened his mouth to protest, but continued to speak before Sirius had a chance.

"Anyway, then the shopkeeper appeared out of nowhere in the middle of it all! He started yelling at me for about five minutes because…" it looked like a thought had just occurred to him, "I was trying to find my glasses on the floor! So of course I couldn't see it! Then as soon as I found them, I put the blasted thing down and ran out of there as fast as I could."

"So…so you're sure whatever it is you were holding was what made you time travel then?" Harry wondered out loud.

"Well I don't see what else it could have been," replied James, to the nods of Harry and everyone else.

"But…but…you have to remember something about it!" Ron was practically on his feet now in agitation.

"Shut up, you prat! Shouting at him isn't going to solve anything!" Harry looked beside him to the source of the voice. Ginny was glaring at her brother across the room.

"Who asked y-"

"Ron, Ginny, stop arguing." Mrs. Weasley cut Ron off mid retort. The siblings continued to scowl at each other over the coffee table.

"Ron, calm down. There's no use getting worked up about it, I'm sure if James remembers anything about…about whatever it is, then he'll tell us."

James took a deep breath and closed his eyes tightly. Harry could tell that he was trying to recreate the scene in his mind. He sat there staring at his father. _His father._ His father that he had never known, that he had never spoken to properly unless you counted during his various battles with Voldemort, which Harry didn't. Now, all of a sudden, his teenage self was sitting inches to his left. It was more than Harry could comprehend. And Sirius too, whom he had only known for the lesser part of two short years.

James opened his eyes and spoke again. "It was small, it fitted perfectly in my hand." He clenched his right fist to demonstrate this. "It was cold, made of some kind of metal. Pewter maybe. And it was covered in dust, so it must have been there for a while."

"Great, so we're looking for something small and metal. Well I'm glad we've managed to narrow it down so much then," Ron began sarcastically, but was silenced by a warning glance from his mother.

_Ron's right though_, Harry thought. _There are countless small metal contraptions in Borgin ann Burkes, I've seen them. And we don't even know if that's the right shop!_

"Hang on," Harry turned to Sirius, "You said you saw an opal necklace their once?" At Sirius' nod, he continued. "Then it was definitely Borgin and Burkes." He exchanged a knowing glance with Ron, who was comically trying to avoid his sister's eye, and added, "Erm long story, doesn't really matter," in reply to Sirius' questioning look.

"So in short, we're going to have to go looking for this thing that could be, well, anything, so we can get back. But I'm the only once that has a chance of recognising it, but if I'm seen in there again, I'll probably get hexed to the moon and back."

"Well put, Prongs, I'm glad to see your skills of perception haven't faltered."

"And we're going to school on Monday," Ginny added, "so we're not going to be a load of help."

"Well you're going to school," corrected Ron, who still had not forgiven her for chastising him earlier.

"No Ronald, you all are," Mrs. Weasley sat up straighter in her chair with a sigh. "We've been through this countless times. You have to complete your education, your father and I are agreed on this." She looked to her husband for support, and he nodded in reply. "You only have two terms left, Ron. It would be nonsensical to give up now, when you're so close to getting your NEWTs.

"But Dean and Seamus-"

Mrs Weasley interrupted before he could finish his sentence. "Dean and Seamus were mistaken, in my opinion. How their parents could allow them to…but that's beside the point. Just because it's optional doesn't mean you can give it up at the flick of a wand."

Ron scowled, and was on the verge of answering back, but George beat him too it. "And Hermione would give you hell." He grinned mischievously at his younger brother. Harry grinned, knowing that George had chosen the perfect words to get Ron to toe the line.

He was right. It shut Ron up completely, and even caused his ears to start flushing pink before he apparently remembered something important.

"Oh yeah!" He started, and looked up at his mother. "Hermione's coming tonight, and she's staying the weekend before we go back to Hogwarts. That's okay, right?

"Hang on, you didn't tell me that!" Harry explained.

"Well I was going to, but I completely forgot." He gestured around him to show that there was an extremely valid reason for the idea to have been pushed to the back of his mind until this very moment.

"Well good, because if anyone will be able to solve this, it's Hermione." Harry breathed a sigh of relief. It would be a whole lot easier now they didn't have to wait until Monday to get Hermione's advice on the matter, as by then they would be too far away to do anything about it anyway.

"Right then," said Mrs. Weasley, standing up, "I'll have to make some beds up. Harry, you're find with Ron in his room still, Ginny, Hermione can stay with you again. And you two," she motioned to James and Sirius, "you can have Bill's old room for as long you're here."

With that, she left the room in a flurry of apron, and frills, to search for some clean linen.

---

Sirius still had about a hundred and one questions, but they had agreed to put the discussion on hold until this _Hermione_ person turned up. The most pressing of the lot was, of course, how the heck they would manage to get back to what he was now coming to think of as 'real-time'. That and how long he would be here before they managed to work it out.

But for now, everyone was engrossed in a rather dramatic game of wizards monopoly, the board scattered with mini versions of all the important wizarding locations. Sirius wondered for a moment what it would be like if Diagon Alley was lime green in real life, before James handed him the dice with a poke in the ribs. They were playing in teams. He and James, Harry and Ginny, and George and Ron. So far, he and James were winning (though looking at the board, anyone else would disagree).

He rolled a ten, and the dog (he was always the dog for some unknown reason) galloped along ten squares, before being descended upon by a hoard of miniature (fuchsia) aurors, and dragged off to a miniature Azkaban.

"Sirius you idiot! Why can't you roll properly for once?"

A well aimed cushion hit him squarely in the face, coming no doubt from his so called team mate.

Brushing his long hair out of his face, Sirius was startled by a bright flash of green light. For a second he thought that James had blown the monopoly board to pieces in frustration (he wouldn't put it past him, knowing James' temper). However, when he looked up, his jaw dropped for the – well he'd lost count, sixth maybe, or seventh – time that day.

A pretty young witch stepped neatly out of the fireplace. Brushing some imaginary soot off the front of her muggle clothing, she was immediately engulfed in hugs.

Sirius let out a laugh like a bark when he saw that Ron had tripped over the board, scattering the pieces in his hurry to get to her first. This was partly out of the comical way he flailed his arms around in the air to regain his balance, but mostly because now there was no way they would be able to carry on playing the game.

What a shame.

However, the unusual laugh had caught her attention, and caused her to look right at him over the redhead's shoulder.

---

Half an hour later, Hermione had recovered, on the whole, from her initial shock at seeing two, well, two dead people sitting on the floor in front of her. She had of course recognised them immediately, and would have done even if she had never seen Harry's photos of them before.

James, well he was unmistakable, looking so much like Harry that it was slightly unnerving.

Sirius looked fifty years younger than she remembered him. His angular face was bright and jovial; twelve years in Azkaban to come had not yet deadened his features. His hair was long, as if he had purposefully neglected cutting it, knowing it would look better this way. However, it bore no resemblance to the long and matted strands that she remembered. Now the dark black tresses grazed the tops of his shoulders and hung playfully at the sides of his face. And his eyes. They held a sparkle that she had never seen in them before.

The differences were, in one word, remarkable, like an old and dusty painting that had been restored to its original glory.

She was now sitting on the sofa between Ron and Sirius himself, the arm of the former around her shoulders as he talked.

"So we figured that if anyone would be able to work this out, it would be you 'Mione. Plus, you had that time turner in third ye-THAT'S IT!" Ron's free hand punched the air.

Hermione sighed. She knew exactly what he was about to suggest, it had crossed her mind at once upon seeing the new arrivals. However, a number of counter-arguments had popped into her head the next moment, proving to her that it was going to be impossible. Now she felt a twinge of regret that she would have to quash Ron's 'brilliant' idea.

Sure enough, his triumphant words rung out in the room. "You can use a time turner to get back!"

After taking a deep breath, Hermione shook her head. "Ron, all the time turners were smashed in our fifth year, remember?"

"Yeah but that was nearly three years ago, surely they will have made more by now."

"You really think that with everything that's happened recently, the ministry was bothered about rebuilding that room? Besides, even if there were, you couldn't begin to imagine all the paperwork and explanation that's needed to get permission to use one. It was hard enough for me in third year, how do you propose we explain why we want one this time?"

"We could always just say that you decided to take too many classes again," Ron shrugged.

"Oh yes, because I would just take up a few more classes that I haven't taken for who knows how long in the middle of my last year? Besides, you're forgetting the fact that the ministry doesn't have any to give out, so this is all completely pointless."

"But we wouldn't need to explain!" This thought had obviously just struck Ron, "nobody can deny Harry what he wants, and Kingsley's minister in case you forgot. Anyway, even if there aren't any, you can't believe that all the time turners in the world were at the ministry that day. We could find someone who has one and ask to borrow-"

"Borrow it? Ron, do you not understand? When you time travel, the time turner goes with you! There's no way we'll be able to find it to give it back to them. Or were you going to say 'excuse me, may we borrow your most valuable possession for a few decades' because somehow, I don't think that would work! Anyway, it doesn't matter in the slightest whether we could get hold of one or not, because even if we could, it wouldn't work."

Hermione hoped the note of finality in her voice would end the conversation there, as it was getting more frustrating by the minute. However, that was not to be.

"Yes it wou-what?"

Hermione saw that everyone else had the same puzzled look on their faces as she looked around her, wishing for someone else to understand. Nonetheless, all the eyes she met were expectant, waiting for an answer. Then her eyes met Sirius' who seemed to be fighting back a laugh at Hermione's exasperation.

She opened her mouth to tell him crossly that if he thought having a dead-ended argument with someone who was supposed to understand you was funny, then he should give it a go himself sometime. But he spoke before she could say a word.

"Time turners were designed for short term use."

After a few moments of stunned silence, Hermione realised that her mouth was still open. "Precisely!" she agreed, smiling warmly at Sirius, glad to have someone backing her up. Then she turned back to Ron, who still looked confused.

"You know when I had the timeturner?" he nodded. "I turned it once to go back an hour." He nodded again, but still didn't seem to understand. It seemed she would have to spell this out for him. _Well he's not the fastest of people, _she thought before trying again. "…Which is twenty four turns to go back one day, so if you wanted to go back just one year you would have to turn it nearly nine thousand times."

Ron frowned, as if he was trying to work this out himself.

"And we have to go back twenty two years," came a voice in her right ear, "and god knows which of them were leap years. It's gotta be pretty hard to calculate."

"But if we spun in really fast…" Ron was still frowning in concentration.

"Then who knows when we'd turn up," James completed the sentence.

Harry and Ginny were nodding in agreement now too, it was only Ron who was still sticking resolutely to his idea. Just as he was showing every sign of resuming the argument, Mrs. Weasley put her head around the door.

"Dinner's nearly ready; I just need some help setting the table. Ginny, could you show James and Sirius where they'll be sleeping, then come back down to help too." She turned to the two boys, "You get settled in, oh and I think Ron has some spare pyjamas." With that, she turned to leave.

Hermione followed her constantly active mind still fully at work. The situation was much more serious than everyone thought. Getting Sirius and James back to their present was not the problem. Well, it was, but the main problem was getting them back before they found out what happened in their futures. That is, that they were dead, that Voldemort had been defeated, and that Harry had saved the wizarding world.

But they would stay in the house, and with any luck they would be gone before Monday. All she had to do was make sure nobody let anything slip in the interim.

---

**AN: Thank you all for your wonderful responses, I've been trying to reply to all your reviews, so if I've missed yours I'm really sorry! I know this took a while to type up, but I have my excuses. I was (am) stuck on writing a bit in the middle of chapter 7, which I have just had an idea to solve. This chapter isn't as long as it would have been (but plenty long enough all the same :P) as I've taken a bit off the end to add to the beginning of the next chapter…because I feel it works better there. Then I'll sort the middle bit out, I know what's going to happen at the end of it, and it'll be up before you know it.**

**I must also admit that I have been distracted by writing some other stuff: 'Where Would I be' is the beginning of a Sirius/Remus ficlet, and 'Dreams and Reality' is a Draco/Harry one shot written in the second person because I really wanted to try that out (and still wonder if it worked). So if you haven't seen them yet and would like to read more of my work, then I'd be grateful if you would check them out (and maybe leave me some love?). But don't if you dislike slash, for obvious and very slashy reasons.**

**PS. If I haven't updated by…let's say in a month's time…it means I have killed myself because of my GCSE results (for anyone not English, basically muggle OWLs) which come out in two days time (aaaaaaaargh). I am becoming as nervous/spazzy as Hermione, apart from the fact everyone knew she would do well anyway. (By the way I would never actually kill myself so don't worry, you'll get your update.)**

**PPS. Sorry about all the talking in this chapter…but it had to be done. And more to come. Sorry.**

**PPPS. Our results don't come by owl. (Oh and if you want any updates on me, or want to read my blogs and stuff, I'm on www.bewarethepossums. **


	7. Getting To Know You

**Chapter 7 – Getting To Know You**

Remember last time you went into Borgin and Burkes undercover?" Ron started, "no offence, but you probably would have made a sneakoscope explode!"

They were sitting around the table in the kitchen of the Burrow for breakfast, surrounded by plates of bacon, eggs, pancakes and everything else breakfast-related that anyone could ever think of. They had already agreed that James would have to go to the shop that day, since he was the only one who could recognise the 'item'. The problem was deciding who he would go with.

"Well I'd like to see you try to do better!" came Hermione's retort, "because you're obviously the most subtle person here." Ron noticed that her voice was dripping in sarcasm. Uncalled for in his opinion, he'd only stated a fact. She _had_ been really obvious, after all.

"Well Harry can't go anyway," he continued, "everyone knows who he is, it would be too suspicious."

Hermione had started shooting him warning looks across the table. Not being able to figure out why, Ron carried on speaking anyway. "I mean, why would Harry go into a dark arts shop, he is the-"

"Okay, so it's settled that Harry can't go!" Interrupted Hermione quickly, glaring at Ron though he still couldn't figure out why. He glanced at Harry, who was seated opposite him, to share an incredulous look. Instead, Harry merely raised his eyebrows and jerked his head in the direction of James and Sirius.

_Oh yeah. Damn._

Only last night, when they had been setting the table for dinner, Hermione had explained the importance of not revealing anything. She'd said something about rules or laws for time travel or something, and they'd already broken them badly since now James knew that he married Lily and had a kid. _So no more slip ups. I can manage that, can't I?_

Ron looked surreptitiously in Hermione's direction. She was still scowling at him, but managing to keep up the conversation at the same time. Ingenious really.

"Arthur and I can't go, obviously." Started him mother, "as senior undersecretary to the minister, he obviously can't be seen down Knockturn Alley. The same goes for me."

"well I have a meeting in Hogsmeade tomorrow, I'm looking into buying Zonko's again, now that.. " He realised what he was about to say much more quickly than Ron had, and rapidly changed track… "now that it's on the market."

"So it's either Ron or Hermione," Harry finished, and all eyes turned back to look from Ron to Hermione as if comparing them.

"I still think Borgin might remember you Hermione. Elephants never forget, as they say." Ron voiced his opinion, then braced himself, expecting to get his head bitten off any second.

"Fine, master spy," came the retort that was much milder than he had expected but still laced with sarcasm.

"One Problem," James was frowning in thought, "we're forgetting that I can't be seen in there, which kind of defeats the point really."

"Exactly! You won't be seen!" Hermione sent a questioning look to Harry, who nodded and finished her sentence. "You'll wear my invisibility cloak."

Much to everyone's astonishment, Sirius let out a barking laugh. Ron, sitting beside him, started in shock and turned around half expecting to see a large dog sitting there.

Once he had calmed down a bit, Sirius explained. "I was just about to say if only we had your invisibility cloak Prongs! Well what if…what if it's the same cloak!"

"No way!" James looked questioningly towards Harry.

"Yeah, it is actually. You…erm…you gave it to me.

"I should hope so, Hogwarts wouldn't be half as fun without it. Now don't tell me you're an animagus too." James narrowed his eyes in a mock stern way and Sirius burst out into fresh peals of laughter. Ron noticed Hermione was laughing quietly too. _It isn't even that funny_, he thought sulkily.

"No, but my patronus is a stag." Harry's grin faded slightly after he said this, his eyes darting to Sirius. It couldn't be clearer, even to Ron, what he was remembering.

"So James and Ron will go then." Hermione strategically removed the attention away from Harry. "But I think we'd better make a plan this time. Ron's right I suppose, we can't afford to make any mistakes."

_Well she seems to have forgiven me for earlier_, Ron thought. Just to make sure, he caught her eye and mouthed "sorry", to which she replied with a curt not and a half smile. _Well that's definitely good enough for me,_ he concluded.

---

It was Saturday afternoon, and the two boys had just left for Knockturn Alley to choruses of "good luck" and "be careful". Now Ginny sat with the others: Sirius, Harry, and Hermione, in Ron's bedroom. They had been going over the plan all morning, not that it was even a plan as such, and now, as they couldn't do any more just yet, they were discussing less crucial matters. Gossiping, in other words.

"So what's James like as a father?"

Harry was sitting on Ron's bed, and Ginny was on the floor, leaning against his legs. She felt Harry's hand, which lay on her shoulder, tense at Sirius' question. All he managed to come out with was "erm…" but luckily Hermione was quicker off the mark.

"We can't tell you about the future, you should know that!"

"What? But that hardly counts as-"

"Yes it does, everything counts. Anything we say now could lead to something else, which could lead to something else, which could change the future!"

Sirius considered this point, and apparently decided not to argue. "So no more questions?"

"No." Ginny saw Hermione, who was sitting on the floor facing them all, let out a sigh of relief.

"Not even teeny weeny ones?" Ginny giggled at Sirius' wheedling voice.

"Nope."

"Because of course, we can't risk the world imploding," Sirius nodded very seriously, and Hermione rolled her eyes in response. "But how did James manage to get together with Lily? I mean…she hates his guts! You should have seen him last night, he was practically doing cartwheels. I nearly had to smother him with my pillow to stop him gloating!"

Hermione was continuing her tactic of ignoring him completely, which Sirius (unfortunately) must have taken as a prompt to continue teasing her.

"And do I have any kids? Does Remus? Peter? Am I Minister of Magic? Does James play international Quiddich? Did Filch and Pince declare their undying love for each other yet? Did Flitwick get any taller? Did Binns realise he's dead?"

Ginny and Harry were laughing now, but Hermione had had enough.

"Look do you want me to chuck something at you?" she said as she tried to stifle her own laughter.

Sirius grinned, having received the exact result he'd wanted. "You wouldn't."

"Is that a challenge?"

Ginny watched as the banter progressed, looking from one to the other. They seemed to have forgotten she and Harry were even in the room.

"Watch it Sirius," Harry spoke, still grinning, "she has a tendency to attack people with flocks of canaries."

"That was once, Harry, once! And I had good reason to!"

"Ron still has the scars."

All traces of the previous laughter had disappeared from Hermione's face. "He deserved it."

"Well he wasn't actually doing anything wrong if I remember rightly."

Ginny could tell that Harry had gone too far. She also knew that he had realised this too, and was probably regretting bringing the subject up in the first place. If looks could kill…

Sirius coughed, distracting Hermione's attention from Harry for a second. "I think I'm missing something, But I'm not allowed to ask questions, am I? Oh whoops, that was a question."

He was rewarded with a cushion smack bang in his face for the second time in two days.

"You're lucky it wasn't something harder."

---

Knockturn Alley was different to how Ron remembered it. It wasn't just the snow that whitened the street, unlike in Diagon Alley where the trampling feet of shoppers had turned most of it to slush. No, it seemed darker despite the shining white blanket that had been draped over it by the heavens. He had only been down here once before, as it had been forbidden territory in his youth. Ron was extremely glad, however, that his mother hadn't forbidden him to go today on those grounds. That would have been embarrassing.

The increase in shabbiness, many windows covered in grime or boarded shut, must have been because of the difference in time. When they had followed Draco more than a year ago, You-Know-Who had been in his prime. People had not been afraid to be seen dabbling in the dark arts. Now however, it was a completely different matter. With Voldemort gone and Aurors rounding up the last death eaters, people had the sense to keep their dirty dealings out of the prying eye of the public.

Only one pair of foot prints was left in the snow behind him. Beside Ron, a pair would appear, then instantly vanish as two new ones appeared a step ahead. At least this meant he had an indication of where James stood.

The shop was unmistakable. Though they had been nearly one hundred percent sure that they knew it was the right one, James' reaction cemented this as truth. Not that Ron could see James' reaction, but his intake of breath and the mutter of "definitely" did the trick.

As per the plan, Ron pushed the door open, holding it for long enough for James to slip through after him. The bell above their heads rand sharply as they entered, and in seconds a bulky figure had appeared behind the counter. _Well James wasn't kidding about the intimidating bit_, he thought.

Ron's role in the plan was to get James in and out of the shop without detection. Of course, there were other benefits of James having a 'partner in crime' as such, as being invisible didn't render one silent, or not solid. It was useful to have a visible person close by in case of emergencies regarding accidental noises (like when James had stubbed his toe on a flower pot in the courtyard of the Leaky Cauldron and sworn loudly) or being bumped into. But mainly, James needed to get into the shop, and when a door opens as if on its own (ringing a bell, as if that wasn't bad enough) it's hard not to raise suspicions.

They had tried a silencing charm on the bell, on the off chance that the shop wasn't so well protected. It had turned out however, that despite the shabby appearance, the owner was no less careful.

Now though, Ron was being glared at, and struggled to remember what they had planned for him to say in the event of interrogation. Meanwhile, he felt James presence leave his side, undoubtedly beginning his search for the elusive object.

Extremely conscious of the eyes boring into him, Ron began to browse through the table before him so it looked as if he was there for a reason. He didn't touch anything, as he had been instructed, merely pretending to read the handwritten labels, continually aware of the unfaltering and no doubt calculating gaze he was positive was still focused on his back.

It was almost as if Borgin had recognised him. Of course this couldn't be true. The man had never seen Ron before, and he couldn't be instantly recognised as a Weasley any more either. He was glad that Hermione had insisted on charming his hair to a mousy brown colour, though he would never admit this as he had put up so much of a fuss at the time.

Borgin must have tired of having the youngster in his shop, for he walked out from behind the counter, and addressed Ron in a sycophantic, but by no means polite, way. It was as if he had not yet decided if Ron was about to spend a lot of money. It was lucky that Ron was tall, and looked older than his eighteen years, as he was sure that if Borgin knew that he was a student, he would have been kicked out as soon as he set foot through the door.

"Is there anything in particular you were looking for?"

Ron, who hadn't realised the man was so close, started and spun around.

"Guilty conscience?" Borgin let out a sly chuckle.

"Oh no, you made me jump. One can't be too careful these days." Ron laughed too, and hoped against hope that the overwhelming nervousness that he felt, would not show in his voice.

This must have been the right thing to say, however, because the next time Borgin spoke, it was a hint of eagerness. Obviously he hadn't been selling much lately.

"But like I asked, were you looking for something in particular…sir?"

_Now what was it Hermione told me?_ Ron racked his brains. _She said to act like Malfoy, so Borgin will believe I'm an asshole Slytherin (well, she may have worded it differently, but it had the same gist). Okay, arrogant git should be easy enough. What else? She told me…she told me to pretend I'm going to spend lots of money…look at all the expensive stuff. That way he'll be pleasant, well as pleasant as a fat bastard can be, anyway. She said something else too though, what was it?_ But for the life of him, Ron could not remember.

"Well…" Ron's brain was frantically trying to invent on the spot, "well you see, my grandmother recently died, and I've had word of a somewhat generous inheritance coming my way."

Ron could see Borgin becoming more and more enthralled as he spoke, and suspected his mind was filling with ways to dupe this "unsuspecting youth" out of his galleons. Soon he was showing Ron all kinds of artefacts. Most of these had him suppressing shudders, and looks of incredible distaste. A few though, Ron had to admit, were rather interesting. That silver whistle for example, with the intricate carvings, that supposedly sent all surrounding people into a tightly woven daydream, so they wouldn't notice whatever it is you were doing.

Then Hermione's voice rang out clearly in his head, as if it had been triggered. "And don't stay in there too long, or you might actually get roped into buying something."

Ah. She has a point.

Ron interrupted Borgin, who was in the middle of an explanation of the use of what looked like a shrivelled eyeball on the table before them. "The thing is, I'm not looking to purchase anything today." The look on Borgin's face was similar to one of a child whose ice cream had just fallen off the cone, and into a particularly dirty pile of dirt. "Of course I'm interested in all of this, but perhaps you could hold a few items for me until I can get…" He lowered his voice and looked into the shopkeeper's eyes, "…a small matter dealt with."

Borgin nodded knowingly, a sly smile having replaced the frown. "Oh of course sir, we all know how troublesome such _matters_ can be."

Ron indicated to the thee most expensive of the dark artefacts they had looked at, and Borgin disappeared to lock them safely away, then reappeared once more.

"Your name, sir?"

"I hardly believer that is necessary. You do wish for me to buy from you, am I correct?"

"Of course sir," The robust man murmured, his satisfied expression rapidly clouding.

With that, Ron turned and walked briskly to the door. Or at least that's what he intended, but after a couple of strides he collided with something that certainly shouldn't have been in his way. An invisible something.

Ron stumbled back, but kept his balance as the thing with which he had collided hit the shelf behind it, knocking a number of potion bottles to the ground. The bottles shattered, and the brightly coloured liquids quickly spread across the dusty wooden floor in a semicircle, leaving only a patch free. This was, mercifully, where the invisible James now stood, trapped between the mix of at least three different potions, and the wobbling shelves behind him.

Ron, being in the Quiddich team, knew how to judge distance. Unfortunately, this meant he also knew that James would not be able to step over the puddle. He couldn't go through it either, not unless he wanted to end up in St.Mungos. Ron had learnt one thing from Neville: that if you try to use a vanishing charm on mixed potions, or one very badly made one, it was likely to result in an explosion.

Ron just hoped James knew this too.

Unluckily, Borgin managed to recover from his shock at the strange scene he had just witnessed, and marched over to Ron, and whispered menacingly, "I'm afraid you'll have to pay for the damages, _sir_." He emphasised the last word, with a smirk.

At that moment, before Ron had a chance to reply, James jumped.

His legs were in full view for a few seconds, as the cloak flew out behind him. Then, with a loud thump, he landed well clear of the spilled potions and broken glass and vanished again. The door opened of its own accord, the bell ringing furiously, and bringing Ron to his senses. Before Borgin could do anything, he was tearing out of the door after James, and rounding the corner at a sprint, not giving a second thought to the two sets of footprints they left behind them.

---

The bedroom was completely dark except for a sliver of silver light that shone through a chink in the curtains. The room was almost silent too, but for the odd shuffle or groan from the sleeping Sirius. James envied his friend, and his ability to sleep even at the worst of times.

He lay in bed, staring into the darkness, thoughts plaguing his mind. James still found it hard to take in. Him, in the future. His son was the same age as him for goodness sake! His son…Lily's son. James couldn't help but let a broad grin spread across his face at the thought of this.

He hadn't had a chance to talk to Harry properly yet, with the hustle and panic of the day before, and the frantic planning and carrying out of said plan today.

And now the plan had failed, and Harry was going back to school first thing in the morning. When James and Ron had returned empty handed in the late afternoon, they had discussed what had happened with the others. He had found absolutely nothing, even having searched behind the counter, but to no avail.

After that had been dinner, followed by everyone finishing their packing, or starting it in Ron's case. Then they had been sentenced to an early night by Mrs. Weasley. _So much for that_, thought James, as he looked at the luminous hands of his watch on the bedside table that told him it was past midnight. So, all in all, James really hadn't had a chance to talk to Harry alone.

His mind was full of questions about his son: was he a good Quiddich player? What was his favourite class? And what on earth had he done (had his parents allowed him to do) to get that scar on his forehead? And there were so many questions about himself and Lily that he couldn't even order them in his head.

A rumbling feeling came from James' stomach, distracting him momentarily from his thoughts. _Mum's right_, he thought with an inward laugh, _teenage boys are always hungry! And it didn't help that she had both Sirius _and_ me at home over Christmas._

After another low rumble, James decided to follow his stomach and head to the kitchen. A walk might do him some good anyway; clear his head so he could at least get some sleep. James pushed the covers off himself, ignoring the slight chill in the air that came naturally with January, and took up his wand from the bedside table before padding across the floor in the direction, he hoped, of the door.

Once he was out in the corridor, and he didn't have to worry about waking Sirius (not that he did), James lit his wand so that a dim light shone around him, though it lit only a couple of steps in front. He tiptoed carefully down the corridor so as not to make more noise than necessary. Reaching the end, he turned the corner, and was confronted by a sight he certainly hadn't expected.

A few paces in front of him stood the blurry outlines of two figures, pressed up against the wall, limbs entwined and kissing passionately.

In the darkness, James couldn't even tell whose hands were whose. He couldn't even tell who they were, though it was as safe bet that it wasn't Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. All he could see was that one figure, the one against the wall, had long hair, and the other short.

They obviously had no idea that their privacy had been intruded upon, and James planned to keep it that way. He was just about to turn on his heel and disappear, when his stomach let out the loudest and most inconvenient rumble yet.

Bugger.

The best thing would have been to turn and run before they saw him, but unfortunately James no longer had control of his limbs. The couple sprang apart immediately, and now they stood facing him, the light from James' wand illuminated their faces. Harry and Ginny's eyes stared back at him, their expressions somewhat like deer in the headlights. _Walk away James, walk away now_, his brain told him, but this was no use because his legs still refused to move.

It wasn't as if he'd never seen couples snogging before. No, it was actually a regular occurrence at Hogwarts. But this was his son, hard as that was still to believe. He tried to imagine what it would be like if his father walked in on him like this, and at the same time, his adult self. Much as he would like to imagine he'd congratulate Harry, with a slap on the back, James wasn't quite sure.

It was Ginny who broke the silence, "Well this is awkward." When nobody else spoke she continued in the same conversational tone, "at least you're not _my_ dad…or Ron for that matter."

"Right…well I'll just…go then."

This time James' feet decide to co-operate (thankfully), and he turned back the way he came, but not before noticing Harry's crimson face under his ruffled hair. It was only when he had returned to bed, and his stomach had rumbled violently again that James remembered why he had been in the corridor in the first place.

_Well there's no way I'm going out there again_, he thought as he turned over, ready for another sleepless night.

---

**An update! And a long one at that. Sorry for the wait, my muse died temporarily, but now she is alive again until she gets crushed by the inevitable waves of school work. I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that I survived my exam results (yay!) but its back to school on Monday, but I'll try to write when I can. You have some action in this chapter instead of just talking, I hope you enjoyed it.**

**As for the link to my homepage I tried to add at the end of the last chapter, I didn't realise links don't work. So it's actually www (dot) bewarethepossums (dot) deviantart (dot) com**

**Review?  
**


	8. Surprises Of An Unexpected Variety

**Chapter 8 –Surprises Of An Unexpected Variety**

Harry watched the blur of green that sped along outside the window as the Hogwarts Express made its way through the countryside. His face was pressed up against the glass, which his breath was rapidly fogging up. Soon his view would be obscured. Ginny, now in her seventh year, had been made a prefect. It had come as a surprise that Hermione was not appointed Head Girl, but Professor McGonagall had explained, at the beginning of the term, that the head boy and girl had been chosen from the seventh years for the sake of continuality.

So with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny stuck patrolling the corridors, Harry was alone for the meantime. He knew he could well just get up and find someone else to sit with, it wasn't as if he was lacking friends. Yet Harry was alone for the first time in weeks, and found that he didn't mind this at all. It gave him a chance to think, for a start, something that he needed, especially after the last couple of days.

Harry pulled his face from the glass, and wiped at the window with his sleeve, straightening his glasses with the other hand. The familiar green of fields and trees began to flash by once more, periodically interspersed with flashes of red, or yellow that might have been barns, or tractors. It was the first time he could remember not looking forward to being back at Hogwarts.

It wasn't as if he disliked the place now. No, on the contrary, he relished being back after the events of last year. To tell the truth, it _had_ been odd, the first few weeks, months even: Walking into the Great Hall, his mind conjuring the image of tables strewn with the bodies of the fallen, the innocent.

_But we won,_ he had tried to keep reminding himself. _We won, and that's why we even can come back_. He wouldn't even let himself consider what the alternative could have been. He wouldn't be completing his NEWTS, that much was for sure. It had been hardest to Ron, and Ginny too, who had lost their brother. He knew they never walked down that corridor any more. Even though it had been completely rebuild, they always avoided it.

But eventually, they'd all had to come to terms with it. They had to accept that Hogwarts would never be the same as it was all those years ago. Dumbledore would never smile benevolently down at them from the staff table, his eyes twinkling with the promise of safety and protection. They would never again complain about a particularly unfair potions lesson with Snape again (though Ron would definitely not see this as something to dwell upon).

They'd just had to accept that Hogwarts had changed, times had changed, and move on, make new memories.

But this wasn't the reason Harry longed to be back at The Burrow. It was because his father and Sirius were there, and where they were, he wanted to be. _It's not unreasonable, is it,_ Harry wondered, _that I want to see my dad? That I want to talk to the father I never knew? _The weekend had rushed by, more quickly than any before, and Harry had been presented no opportunity to talk to his father alone. _And by the time we go back, they'll be long gone, back to their own time, and I'll never see them again._

Letting out a deep sigh, Harry stood up, stretching his stiff limbs. What was it that Dumbledore had once said?"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."_ There's no use in moping about something I can't change. _Harry couldn't count the number of times he had learnt that lesson.

He would go and find one of the others. Neville and Luna were sure to be nearby, and a distraction was just what he needed. Harry headed to the compartment door, stumbling over something (though when he looked down, he couldn't work out what this might have been) and eventually managing to get out of the door.

_But one conversation would have been nice._

---

"To everyone who spent Christmas away from Hogwarts, welcome back." Professor McGonagall's voice rang out through the quiet hall. "And to everyone, I hope your holidays were enjoyable." Hermione was amused to see the grins Harry and Ron shared across the table. Obviously they'd had a good time.

Hermione had been invited to The Burrow, but spent Christmas with her family instead. Though she had missed the splendour of a Hogwarts winter, and the crowded joviality at The Burrow, she had been glad to spend time with her parents. Since their return from Australia, she had realised how close she had been co loosing them completely, and was determined never to let this happen.

However much they couldn't comprehend Hermione's life in the wizarding world (or the wizarding and witching world, and she preferred to think of it) they loved and supported their only daughter, so she wasn't going to let anything change that.

Hermione directed her attention back to Professor McGonagall, who had continued to address the students.

"…and you can find the full list pinned to Mr. Filch's door. On another note, it has been discussed and decided upon that the eighth years shall be given extra privileges this term. Because in normal circumstances, you would be out of school by now, and especially as you have chosen to spend this year studying of your own free will, eighth years shall be permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade outside the usual scheduled weekends."

With this, there was a scattered burst of cheering and applause from the eight years that had returned for the year. Looking around though, Hermione could see several pouts on the faces of sixth and seventh years. The noise quietened down as the headmistress held up a hand to regain order.

"After much deliberation, we have also decided to award this privilege to head boy and girl, and the seventh year prefects."

She had to pause for a few moments due to the large amount of whooping that had erupted around the hall, then raised her voice in order to continue.

"…Provided you are of at least seventeen years of age, and after I receive a signed letter of consent from a parent or guardian."

The muttering had grown louder, though Hermione suspected that most of the noise was coming from Ron, who was doing looked a cross between a jig and a war dance with his arms. He and Harry had started discussing the extent to which they could abuse this privilege, and Hermione had to resort to elbowing Ron in the ribs, and asking if he knew the meaning of whispering.

Hermione caught Ginny's eye and flashed a grin at her as McGonagall started to talk again. Since her friend was a prefect, she could join them in Hogsmeade too. Hermione suspected that Harry was particularly pleased about this, though she was pretty sure he would have found a way to smuggle her out of the castle anyway.

"But first, a few rules must be made clear."

Ron, amongst several other people, let out a groan.

"Firstly, you may not leave the Hogwarts grounds during lesson time. Secondly, you may not leave the village or apparate elsewhere form there. Thirdly, if you intend to go out in the evenings from Sunday to Thursday, you must return to school by ten O'clock." Another groan threatened to break out, but McGonagall didn't pause. "However there shall be no curfew on Fridays and Saturdays." The groan was abruptly morphed into a cheer.

"A notice will be put up tomorrow, detailing these rules, and the floo connection to Hogsmeade. Please remember, if you are caught breaking and of these rules, or abusing this generous privilege, I will not hesitate to remove it."

Less than a minute later, the Great Hall had dissolved into excited chatter, and the tables had filled up with food.

"Well it looks like this term is going to be interesting. I just hope we'll have time for all our work, not to mention all the NEWT revision we have to do," Hermione joined in her friends' conversation, ignoring the rolled eyes and snorts that this comment received.

---

"What the…bloody hell!"

"Ron! Don't swear," came Hermione's scolding voice, as the Fat Lady's portrait swung shut behind them.

"It wasn't me!" The redhead had opened his mouth in a disbelieving fashion, and quickly turned his head, searching for the source of the noise. "I can't believe you'd just assume it was me!" His eyes came to rest on Harry, who was at back of the group.

"Hey, don't look at me!" Harry's voice was just as indignant.

Sirius received a sharp prod in the ribs, as James hissed, "Well done, idiot," in his ear.

"But…but…look at it!" Sirius whispered back, gesturing with his head at what stood before them."

He had been expecting to step into the Gryffindor common room when they came in through the portrait hole, but once he and James had managed to scramble though in the invisibility cloak without anyone noticing (a feat worthy of medals, and lots of chocolate, Sirius thought), and looked up, that was not what he had seen. Instead of a mass of armchairs and the roaring fire, they were standing at the entrance of a corridor about the same length as the common room he had expected to see.

Once he was able to see between the others that were mostly blocking his view, he saw that a tapestry adorned the end of the corridor, depicting a large lion in red and gold. There was a staircase to either side of the tapestry, which Sirius recognised to be those leading up to the dormitories. And that was the extent of what he recognised.

"Oh no! I completely forgot I was supposed to go and speak to Professor Sprout right after dinner!" The panic stricken boy – Neville, Sirius remembered them calling him, provide a very much welcome distraction as he pushed back through the slightly congested patch of corridor and hurried back to the portrait hole. By the time he had tripped over his own feet and managed to scramble out, the oddity of the moment before had been forgotten.

Now that they had reached the middle of the corridor, Sirius could see that were was a wooden door to each side. One read "Eighth Year Boys" and the other "Eighth Year Girls". How odd. There were quite a few oddities Sirius had noticed around Hogwarts, come to think of it, and they were none too subtle. _Why is there an extra year anyway? _He wondered, _optional too? And I could have sworn that half of the west wing looked completely rebuilt from the carriage._

They had entered the one marked "boys" after Harry and Ron. Hermione had disappeared into the other, followed by two other girls, and Ginny was yet to return from some prefect duties or other.

The room they entered looked, unsurprisingly, like a semicircle. Like half of what used to be the Gryffindor common room, except there stood five four poster beds hung with red and gold, instead of the usual disarray of armchairs and book strewn tables. A door lay to one side, which presumably lead to the bathroom.

As he watched Harry slump on the bed closest to that door on the right, and Ron on the one beside him, Sirius felt a nudge in his ribs. "Now, d'ya reckon?" a voice breathed into his ear.

"May as well get it over with," he whispered back. _But we may as well do with some hint of style_, he added to himself.

Ron had opened his trunk and was busy rummaging through the contents, whilst Harry spoke to him, still sitting at the centre of his bed. As he talked, his exes fixed on his friend, Sirius and James had perched themselves carefully on the end of it, and removed the cloak.

"…and we can just go down to The Three Broomsticks whenever we want!"

"Well as long as it's not Madam Pudifoot's, that place frankly makes me nauseous." Sirius added in a conversational tone.

Two heads whipped around to stare at James and him. Two pairs of eyes widened, took in their presence, and they were seemingly unable to speak.

"Does that place even exist any more?" James raised an eyebrow.

"But James, on the other hand," Sirius continued, as if he wasn't being regarded in astonishment, "He enjoys taking his girls there on a regular basis." He winked at his friend. Winding him up was so incredibly fun.

"They drag me there, more like. But hey, a date's a date. At least I actually take them out, as opposed to just kissing random girls in hallways like _somebody_ I know."

_Hmph, the cheek of it._ Sirius was saved from having to think of a suitably cutting response (which was good, because he couldn't) when both Harry and Ron spoke at once.

"What…how…?"

"I'll…uh…I'm just going to fetch Hermione."

Ron reappeared with both Hermione and Ginny in tow less than a minute later. Their reaction was ver different from the boys' however. Whilst Ginny just rolled her eyes, Hermione tutted and shook her head with a smile playing at her lips. "And _why_ didn't I guess this would happen?" She spoke as much to herself as to the rest of the room. "Well…we'll have to let Professor McGonagall know."

She was interrupted by an indignant Ron. "Hermione! You don't have to report everyone that breaks the rules, you know! They're not technically students anyway; they don't have any rules to break!"

_Hmm, I never really thought about what we'd do once we actually got here._ Glancing over at James, Sirius was sure, from the expression on his face, that his friend hadn't had the foresight to plan ahead either.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione waited for Ron to finish ranting about how much of a goody-goody she was. Ginny, in the meantime, plopped herself down beside Harry.

"If you're quite finished, Ron?" Sirius made a mental note never to cross Hermione. If her wand work is as scathing as her tone, none of us would stand a chance. "I wasn't worried about the rules; I just thought it would be rather ridiculous for Sirius and James to have to sit in this dormitory until they can go home, when they clearly wanted to actually see Hogwarts. Let's face it; they're bound to sneak out at some point or another." She cast an apologetic look at them both, but Sirius merely shrugged his shoulders and smiled in a 'well you're right, we would' kind of way.

"And then what happens if they get caught? It's not as if they can be of much use finding a way back to their time if they're stuck here, and you really think McGonagall won't be of any use? If anyone will know about this type of thing, it's her. Besides, if they just appeared to be, say, overseas students, they can join in with lessons as well as come out with us to Hogsmeade."

Sirius had to stifle a laugh as she grossed her arms, her stony gaze inviting Ron, whose ears now resembled a fire engine, to challenger her.

---

An hour later, the four boys were back in the dormitory again. When they entered, Neville had been unpacking, and on Harry's instruction, they had told him what was going on. Being the only other occupant of the dorm meant that it was safer to tell him than to not, and it gave them a safe place to talk, too, without having to be constantly on guard.

James had a completely new identity now, as did Sirius, no Paddy, who was standing in front of the mirror, examining his face. His new name, Paddy Donovan, was a brilliant stroke of genius, in James' opinion. Of course, he was the one who had thought of it.

After Minerva got over her initial shock at seeing two students that she taught decades ago, and who were now dead, standing in her office, she had switched to her efficiency mode. James was still surprised that she was headmistress, and the question that had risen up in his mind at the feast had returned again: _What happened to Dumbledore_? Many of the portraits covering the walls of the headmistress' office were empty, however, and none of those who remained were the benign headmaster.

Harry had suggested Polyjuice Potion; they could become Dean and Seamus. Admittedly, the idea sounded pretty darn brilliant at first, but then they had to consider the implications of the potion. It would be difficult to obtain the ingredients, they would need a large supply, they knew nothing of the people they would become, and what about the real Dean and Seamus?

They had eventually decided on semi-permanent glamour charms instead, at Hermione's suggestion. Nobody could deny it, the girl had brains. Their faces, hair, and names had been changed just enough, but luckily their bodies had been left unchanged because apparently their stature was of little consequence. It was their voices Hermione had been worried about, but there was nothing they could really do about that unless you included trying to force Sirius to speak in an Irish accent, at which he failed miserably.

The glamours were far more efficient that Polyjuice Potion would have been. The charms only needed to be re-cast once a week, unlike the potion which they would have needed to take exactly once an hour, without fail. _Will we even be here as long as a week?_ James wondered. Part of him hoped that they would.

Paddy's,_ it's just brilliant really, and to think he wanted to be called Stephen or something, _usually long, dark hair, was now the completely opposite of how it had once been. It was short now, well not too short, it was still kind of shaggy, and blonde. Blonde! It wasn't a Lucius Malfoy kind of blonde though, it was a nice honeyish colour, and not looking like Lucius Malfoy was always a good thing. His features had been changed too, but only slightly so that people wouldn't recognize him. To James he still looked like Sirius, just a bit…distorted. His grey eyes were blue, and he had a dusting of freckles across his nose and cheeks. These were the subject of his grumblings as he turned this way and that in front of the mirror.

"Freckles! Why freckles? Sirius Black does not have freckles!" he moaned, eliciting a "hmph" from Ron's end of the room.

"Shut up, Pads, there's nothing wrong with freckles. You still look like a sex god." James rolled his eyes and continued, "Now stop complaining and go to bed, you bloody temperamental Irish man."

With snorts of laughter from Ron and Harry, Sirius did manage to pull himself away from the mirror. Half way to his bed, James and Sirius had the two in between Neville's that stood on the side furthest from the bathroom door, and Harry and Ron's, he stopped short. "I don't have any pyjamas." James hadn't actually noticed that he had none, since he was sleeping in his boxers. But Sirius had a point.

McGonagall taken set of robes for each of them from her lost property cupboard (who knew she had one of those?) and transfigured them to the right sizes. They were to borrow shirts, trousers and ties from Harry and Ron, who each had a spare set or two. But they hadn't thought of anything else, like pyjamas, and casual clothes apart from the one set they had been wearing under the invisibility cloak. _Come to think of it, I might need some clean underwear sometime this week, as well._ _I wonder if Scourgify works on clothes._

However, James was quite exhausted, and frankly couldn't be bothered to think of all the technicalities. He was Paul James now, and Paul James, with his brown hair and lack of glasses, wanted to go to sleep. As he pulled the curtains shut around his bed, cutting off the rest of the room as Harry rooted through his trunk to find pyjamas and Sirius continued with his melodrama, James contemplated the blank slate of a life he had in front of him, even if it might be only there for a few days.

He stared up at the top of his bed, looking at the folds of the scarlet material as it hung from the wood. Usually he would need his glasses to see that far, but now the image was sharp and perfect. _The wonders of new magical technology,_ he thought to himself. All it had taken was a couple of charms.

_Maybe I can get used to this._

_---_

**This is the part where we magically forget that I haven't updated since school started. When you take English Lit and History A levels, it really does kill any will you might have to write in any free time you manage to scrape between writing essays. But it's the holidays in two weeks, so perhaps you won't have to wait as long next time.**

**Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone, and I hope you enjoyed the update! And reviews are always nice, hint hint if only to threaten with lynching if I don't update sooner next time.**

**PS. No offence intended to Irish people or anything!**

**PPS. Unless you're Carl.**


	9. One To One

**Chapter Nine – One To One**

Full of treacle tart, and feeling particularly content, Ginny sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall with her friends. This had probably been her best first morning back ever, which was especially impressive since it had to compete with the term before, when she had found out that the seventh and eighth year NEWT students would be amalgamated and take classes together. But today, well she had never laughed so much in her life. What was more, she had a free period after lunch, then double Defence Against The Dark Arts. Who knew Tuesdays could be so good?

She was still frankly amazed by James and Sirius, who McGonagall had put down to do the same subjects they were for their NEWTs back in their time, consequently their timetables were practically the same as hers and the trio's.

They were like superhuman beings; they constantly had everyone within a seven foot radius wetting themselves with laughter, but the thing was, they had brains to rival Hermione's. In Ginny's opinion, it really wasn't fair. People that good looking and that funny would, in a just world, be dimmer than an Avada Kedavra'd light bulb. Or vice versa, couldn't they at least be a little socially retarded? No, of course not, which was why they practically had a cult following even after what couldn't be more than three hours of school?

They were just lucky that now McGonagall was headmistress, they had a new transfiguration teacher who was conveniently in that (extremely suicidal) stage of trying to get the students to like him. There was no doubt that if McGonagall had been teaching them, there would be two young males in the hospital wing who would be incapable of creating offspring. _Come to think of it, that wouldn't be too good for Harry…_

The atmosphere in the Great Hall was loud and jovial, a considerable improvement over the start of last term, when memories of the war were still heavy shadows over the castle and everyone in it. They had been so caught up in their conversation that nobody had noticed that the Hall was practically empty. It was only when Lavender jumped up, squealing, "Oh no! We're late for Divination!" and dragged Parvati quickly out of her seat so they could start the long trek up to Professor Trelawney's "attic of death-by-asphyxiation" as Ron had recently dubbed it. At the time, Hermione had remarked on the incredibility of Ron knowing a word as long as "asphyxiation", starting an argument that nobody particularly wanted to remember.

Glancing over to Harry to suggest that they get going to the Common Room, Ginny had to stop herself saying anything. She had caught him, for about the twentieth time that day, gazing at his father with the same melancholy look of longing she had got to know so well in the months following the war. It was obvious that he just needed, and wanted most likely, a chance to speak to James alone. The cogs in her mind moving at lightning speed, she realized that now could be the perfect time.

_The problem is getting the two of them on their own. Hmm, Sirius is practically glued to James…and my dear and incredibly quick witted brother is basically impervious to anything vaguely resembling a subtle hint._ She mulled it over in her mind, then happened to catch Hermione's eye over the table. Immediately, Ginny knew that her friend had exactly the same thoughts running through her, though significantly more methodical, mind.

Ginny glanced pointedly at Harry, then back at Hermione, raising her eyebrow as if to say, "So what do we do?" Hermione replied with a sly smile and put the plan, though what exactly was a mystery to Ginny, into action.

"Oh no, I haven't finished eating yet! You'll wait for me, Gin, won't you?"

Ron did just as expected, _well what Hermione must have expected anyway_, piping up like an eager puppy with, "I'll stay, Hermione! You guys can go ahead if you like. We'll catch up with you in the Senior Common Room."

Ginny shifted down the bench a little so as to let Sirius get his leg over the bench without kicking her. As the other two got up, murmuring in ascent, Ginny mouthed, "I've got it," to Hermione. Her "Okay, see you guys later!" earned a glare from Ron, who obviously wanted her to vacate the area along with the others, _but screw him_. As soon as the three had almost reached the doors to the great hall, Ginny sent a scrunched up paper napkin flying in their direction with a flick of her wand.

It hit Sirius square in the back of the head.

He started and turned around, scanning the flight path for the culprit, his eyes finally setting on Ginny, who was smiling sweetly and twirling his wand, recently pinched from his pocket, between her fingers. She saw him turn back and murmur something to the other two, hopefully an "oh crap I've forgotten my wand, please go on without me" before retracing his steps, Harry and James disappearing from sight in the other direction.

_Score._

--

"I guess it's just us then."

Now that they were on their own, finally, Harry felt possibly even more nervous than before his first Quiddich match. It was as if someone was hovering over him, whispering in his ear: "This is your only chance, don't screw it up. You know if you say something stupid, if he doesn't like you, you'll have lost the last chance to get to know your father. You know, that father you've never known? He's just going to disappear in a few days and you're never going to see him again. Remember? Because he's dead. No pressure though."

"Is it? Oh yeah."

How did he not notice that? How is he just standing there, not panicking at all, not even a little bit? I'm his son that he's never met before, practically grown up! I've defeated the Dark Lord that's terrorized both my world and his, the guy that killed him, that destroyed two generations! But Harry knew, of course. James didn't know any of this. To him, he was just experiencing a slice of the future that he'd see again one day anyway. And however hard it was, Harry also knew that he could never find out any of this. So how on Earth am I supposed to have a proper conversation with him, get to know him without mentioning, well, anything?

The situation seemed determined to make itself as difficult as possible.

"So we're going to the common room, right?! James interrupted Harry's thought, which was probably a good thing seeing as he felt as if he might be about to explode with the complexity of it all.

"Um…yeah." He replied, his mouth obviously being in collaboration with the situation.

"How?"

_Oh great, now it's my feet too. _Flummoxed, Harry promptly forgot he was supposed to be walking, and was nearly mown down by a third year Hufflepuff. The student in question instantly turned a shade of crimson, the intensity of which rivalled Ron's bedroom at The Burrow, and scurried off. "How? What do you mean, how? We're walking, obviously."

"Well firstly, you don't look as if you are at the moment," James commented with a smirk, "and secondly, that's not what I meant." He rolled his eyes at Harry's vacant expression and continued, "There's no common room any more…oh but of course!" Harry, who had been slowly catching up with James' train of thought, was now lost once again. "You wouldn't know where the common room is…was…in my time…that it's changed. Geez, this is confusing. But where is it now, anyway?" Then he added in an undertone, "And is anyone ever going to explain why in the name of Merlin's knickers Hogwarts has been on _Extreme Home Makeover_?"

Harry decided that he really could do with Hermione being here right now, as he deliberated what to say next. James had given him a perfect excuse not to look as if he had fewer brain cells than a dead flobberworm, but wouldn't it be easier just to tell the truth? How much can I tell him without, well, telling him? Harry decided to start with the simplest question, deciding on the truth, and hoping his father would forget that he was incapable of following a simple conversation.

"The common room…well I do know where it used to be. In the tower, where our dorms are now. It was only moved at the beginning of the year since us eighth years needed some place to live. Filch was quite keen on chucking us out into the forest, but McGonagall wasn't too happy with the chances of us being eaten by acromantula. And then there's the whole thing about house unity. She's pretty keen on improving the relations between houses, so now we have communal common rooms."

This time it was James who nearly collided with something (a fairly beefy looking suit of armour, to be precise, which glared and shook its mace threateningly). His father's mouth was wide, and whilst he was clearly trying to speak, displayed all the qualities of a tongue tying curse.

"Yes, even the Slytherins," Harry chuckled, knowing exactly what James was thinking. His reaction was exactly the same as Ron's had been, after all. It was all he could do not to laugh out loud. "But they tend to stay in their dormitories, or flock in one corner. Surprisingly enough, they were the least happy about the amalgamation."

"The darkest corner I'll bet," James laughed, the gleam in his eye making Harry suspect that he was recovering from that particular piece of news. "Hang on…did you say common rooms? Plural?"

"Oh yeah, well there are three." By this time, they had reached the portrait hole, and once they stepped through, Harry carried on. "To be honest, I'm still not really used to it. But hanging out with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs isn't such a bad thing, especially since there aren't many eighth years."

Immediately, Harry regretted his last comment, knowing what question would come next, and simultaneously that it would be much harder to skirt around the 'real' reasons for it.

"Talking of that, why…"

But in a mercifully rare stroke of fortune, they had reached the tapestry at the end of the corridor. Harry held out a hand to silence his companion.

"We want the senior common room, sixth years and above. NEWT students basically, so anyway, we need the right password. I think it's still "eggnog"…

At the word, the tapestry consented that indeed it was by glowing a silvery colour and turning slightly transparent. Harry took this as his cue to step through as if the tapestry was not there at all. He was still breathing a sigh of relief at his reprieve from answering questions for the minute, but it was pretty clear that the it was going to surface again sooner or later. _I may as well have an answer planned_, Harry mused, but James appeared by his side before he had a chance to think.

--

"So a magical tapestry, I assume?"

"Yeah, the common rooms are actually in the East Wing, hence why it looks so new from the outside. The other two just have different passwords."

So this was why one whole part of the castle had been rebuilt? But surely they didn't have to knock the whole outside wall down and replace it. Once again, odd. But all queries were dispelled form James' mind when he looked up. The room itself was almost the same as the one in Gryffindor tower once had, but for a few obvious differences. It was much larger now and square, each wall sporting a house tapestry.

None of this, however, was what made James' jaw drop.

In the centre of the room roared a huge fire. But it wasn't just an ordinary fire. Magical multicoloured flames shimmered and danced in the air casting colourful light across the room. There was no need for a chimney, as no smoke was emitted. His first thought was that it must be pretty dangerous; it was practically asking to have "fire hazard" signs stuck all around it. But then Harry, obviously amused at his rapture, laughed. "I dare you to touch it."

"There's abso-bloody-lutely no way I'm going anywhere near that thing! Are you trying to kill me?!"

Eventually he had though. But only after keeping well back as Harry approached the flickering flames and didn't appear to spontaneously combust. In the end, he had to admit it was bloody amazing. The room was comfortably warm, however close they got to the ceiling-high pyre. Even when he,_ incredibly bravely if I might say so myself_, ventured to past his hand through a tongue of flame, all he felt was a coolness lapping at his fingers. _Amazing!_

Any part of the walls that wasn't taken up by the tapestries or large stained glass windows was covered in bookshelves, obviously catering for the Ravenclaws' studious needs. Sofas and armchairs, as well as normal chairs and tables, sat around in clusters, many piled high with various tomes. The result was a colourful and homely kind of room in which James could happily picture himself spending time.

_Thumbs up to the interior designers, _James mused as he followed Harry to a free sofa in a relatively empty part of the common room.

However, it still felt odd to him that Gryffindors and Slytherins could have lived in co-existence for a whole term already without any fatalities as of yet.

And talking of odd things…

"So why is there an eighth year now, anyway?" And why did you say there aren't many of you? Did you just fail your NEWTs the first time round or something?" James smirked, knowing that was obviously not the case having seen, heard, and marvelled at Hermione's outstanding abilities that very morning. _So why is it?_

Harry was taking his time replying, and James took a moment to study his doppelganger's face. It was just plain spooky how alike they were, or at least how alike they had been before James was given this ghastly new makeover. When his son finally looked up, having felt that he was being watched, their eyes met and James was stricken by just how much it was like staring into Lily's.

Harry blinked and shrugged. "Will you accept this as one of those things I can't tell you? Because it'll ruin the future and all, which I don't particularly want on my hands."

"Nope, not likely." The smirk grew.

"Fine, I didn't think so," Harry grinned back, "But I can't explain everything, OK?"

With a nod from James, he continued.

"Well something happened last year and it meant that we, the seventh years that is, couldn't take our NEWTs. So we're repeating the year, those of us who chose to come back, because I quite fancy being able to get a job after leaving school, to be honest."

"Something happened? What happened?" What could possibly stop these people forcing students to take exams? They're slave drivers!" After they had both stopped laughing, James added, "You're not going to tell me, are you?" HE executed his best pout, and would even have resorted to puppy dog eyes if the thought that it would make the slightest bit of difference.

"Nope, sorry, no can do. But that's the gist of it. And please don't go round trying to find out what it was. The story's close to hand and everything, but if I thought it didn't matter then I'd have told you."

_Damn. That put paid to that idea. He looks genuinely worried as well. _

"Alright, fine. You sound like my father."

_Oh crap. That slipped out._

Harry, who had been half way through a sigh of relief, immediately stiffened again. "It's just…it's just so weird," he admitted, voicing James' exact thoughts, "Me being older than you…and you just being here and…and everything."

James had to agree. It was. Very.

"I don't suppose there's _anything_ you _can_ tell me about the future then?" It was a feeble attempt at lightning the atmosphere, but Harry merely smiled weakly.

"You'll have to consult the oracle, I mean Hermione, about that. But I can tell you some stuff about me, I guess. Boring stuff though. You probably don't even want to know…" He trailed off, looking kind of dejected in James' opinion. _He can't have inherited much of my self confidence._

"Hey, anything you can tell me, I want to know. Then I can bore you with stuff about me. I might even have some dirt on Lily," he added, in a conspiratorial tone.

_Well look at that, I said something right_, James thought at the sight of Harry's side splitting grin. _Perhaps I'm getting better at this._

"Deal."

--

**Okay so I've been writing this since before Christmas. It was going to be about twice as long, but I didn't think you would want to wait another…month or two xD. If you're frustrated about the lack of, for want of a better phrase, blossoming romance, that's what I cut off. It will start, of course. Just in the next chapter. **

**Actaully, I wrote another 1,000 words, but cut that part of at the last moment because otherwise the next chapter will be majorly short. So sorry for the brevity, but wouldn't you rather read this now? **

**Reviews are particularly welcome (yes please), especially if you want the fluff sooner rather than later. (And it is my birthday this week, after all.)**


	10. Sympathy And Chocolate

**Chapter 10 – Sympathy and Chocolate**

It was five minutes until the end of Transfiguration, the last class of the day, and Ron was itching to make use of the eighth years' new found privilege. But first he had to transfigure Sirius back.

They were studying human transfiguration still, and Sirius and he had been partnered. The former had just, on the professor's instruction, transfigured Ron's nose back to its usual freckly form. Now it was his turn.

But therein lay the problem.

There was four minutes left until the end of the class, a fact floating at the forefront of Ron's mind, taunting his ignorance. _What on Earth was that bloody spell for the hair? Eurgh. It's all just so much to remember, they assume we all have minds like Hermione's. It's going to take me half an hour at this rate, the damn book is so long. _Ron cursed himself for not leaving the book open on the right page; he was paying for it now.

He glanced up, fully expecting to see Sirius glowering at him and rolling his eyes, or something of the sort. Or at least sitting there wearing a bored and slightly irked expression. But no, he had obviously given up waiting, and was immersed in conversation with Hermione and James, both of who had finished (of course). All Ron could see was the (bright blue) back of Sirius' head. Fine.

Then Ron, with two minutes left, had a sudden stroke of genius.

_The index! Why didn't I think of that before?_ With a smug grin, he flipped the heavy tome over and opened it at the back, only for his jaw to drop in dismay.

What lay before him were four pages of entries for the letter A alone. Each page with five columns. And tiny writing.

Ron flopped onto the desk in defeat, his head in his hands.

It would be all too easy just to ask Hermione for the incantation, but Ron, being male and, well, Ron, saw that as a sign of defeat. _And she already thinks I'm stupid enough._ James and Sirius were no use either; he'd have to interrupt their conversation with Hermione, who would then listen anyway. Even Harry was over on the other side of the classroom.

_But maybe…yes! That might just work!_

Ron decided to act while Sirius' back was still turned, because there was a good chance nothing would happen and Ron would just end up looking like a fool in front of everyone (everyone being Hermione). He pointed his wand at his target and murmured, "Finite Incantatem."

The colour began to disappear gradually from the darkening hair, and Ron allowed himself to gloat internally. Less than a minute later, Sirius' hair was back to its usual black length.

_But…hang on_. Ron couldn't remember transfiguring the length, only the colour. And wasn't it supposed to be brown?

_Oh shit._

Hermione and James' frozen expressions reflected exactly what had just gone through Ron's mind.

Because the universe is never content with allowing people believe a bad situation cannot get any worse, just then the second hand hit the twelve. The sudden rush of noise and motion, however, startled Hermione into action. She pushed her bag off her desk, and Ron only realized why when she whispered, "Get down!" urgently at Sirius.

Ron couldn't see his face, but assumed that he had absolutely no idea what had just happened to him. With a helping shove from James though, he obeyed Hermione's command. She too dropped to the ground, starting to pick up the various contents of her bag that were now strewn across the stone floor.

Ron hastened to do the same, and saw that he had been right about Sirius' oblivious mindset. A small hand mirror had landed, and miraculously not broken, next to his foot, so he picked it up and passed it to Sirius. Immediately after glancing into to it, he stiffened and exhaled, "Holy mother of Merlin."

Most of the class had disappeared by now, as eager to get away as Ron had been. Only Harry, Ginny, Neville and Luna remained in one corner. Luna was sporting a beak, and Neville was looking frantic. The only worrying thing was that the teacher still stood at the front of the room, looking particularly impatient. It probably didn't help things that professor McGonagall's successor greatly resembled an emu.

Hermione stood, narrowly avoiding hitting her head on the corner of the desk, and began to cross the room. As she brushed past him, Ron inhaled that familiar and scent that she constantly surrounded her. He couldn't identify what exactly she smelled of, flowers maybe? Spices? But he did know that it was particularly compelling, and made him wish that he knew where he stood with her.

As she passed the teacher's desk, she paused to say, "Sorry professor, everything fell out of my bag! Please don't worry about waiting for us." Luckily, professor Maius grudgingly agreed, saying, "Alright, but see to it that Miss Lovegood gets her nose back," nodding over to where Neville's head could be mistaken for a tomato it was so red, and Luna's beak had doubled in size, before disappearing into the crowded corridor.

"Harry! Please tell me you have the cloak with you!" Hermione pleaded. This obviously confused him, as god knows why someone would need an invisibility cloak for a spilt bag. But once he caught sight of Sirius, who had just stood up, his face cleared. "What in the name of…what happened?" He inquired, and at Hermione's shrug relief surged through Ron's veins. _They don't know it was me!_ Who knew it was possible to feel guilty and relieved at the same time? Well, two emotions at the same time full stop.

But fortunately, it looked like no harm was done. It was easy work getting an invisible Sirius back to the tower once Hermione had sorted Luna's nose out, and Sirius had used a packing charm on the rest of her spilled belongings.

The guilt part was easy enough to ignore with the prospect of their freedom looming in Ron's mind once again.

--

"I can't believe you, Ronald!" came the shrill voice from behind the shut door.

Sirius carefully extracted his hand from the handle, deciding that it was more than his life's worth to open the door at that particular moment. Instead, he settled himself down on a fluffy mat on the bathroom floor trying his best not to listen to the conversation in the boys dormitory beyond.

"What?" the voice, obviously Ron's, replied incredulously. "What have I done now?"

Maybe 'conversation' was too polite a term.

"You're just going to go and gallivant around Hogsmeade and ignore what's happened?"

"Nothing's happened, 'Mione. You just need to re-apply the glamour charm and we're all set to go."

There was a pause before Hermione spoke again. When she did, it was clear that she had made an effort to calm herself. Her irritation wasn't gone however, by the strained tone of her voice.

"Ron, I don't think you're grasping the severity of the situation. Sirius' glamour just failed for no apparent reason. My charm, it didn't work properly! And until we can work out why and find a resolution, then he can't be walking around in full view of everyone. He's recognizable, you know that."

At this her voice lowered to a hiss, and Sirius gave up all pretence of not eavesdropping. He shuffled closer to the door, pushing his ear up against the rough mahogany. If they were talking about him, he figured, he had the right to listen. Hermione continued.

"I have to do some research, find out what could have gone wrong. Then if I can't, I need to work out what other options there are. We might even have to resort to polyjuice, and that will open up a whole new set of problems. It takes a month to brew if you don't remember. We can't have Sirius and James locked up in the dorm for a month, they might not even be here then! Ugh, this is just so complicated!

"All that can wait, Hermione. A couple of hours this evening aren't going to make any difference at all."

"Don't you listen to anything I say? Sirius obviously can't go, and neither can James. If I made a mistake whilst casting the spells, which at the moment is the most likely cause of what happened, his glamour is liable to collapse at any given moment! Is it really impossible for you to just use your brain sometimes?"

Sirius heard an exasperated sigh; a distinctly male, exasperated sigh.

"Invisibility cloak, remember? Seems like I'm not the one neglecting their brain."

Sirius barely heard the last, muttered, sentence, but it caused a sharp intake of breath. He cringed against the door waiting for all hell to break loose. Though he had only known Hermione for a couple of days, from what he had seen and deduced about her temperament, this was the lowest insult possible. Though Sirius couldn't see the scene in the room beyond, the stony silence was an indication that whatever was happening wasn't good. Not for Ron at least.

"What did you just say?" Her voice was no more than a deadly hiss.

"Nothing, I was just pointing out that-"

"Just go out and get wasted without a second though about anyone other than yourself, Ron. That's what you want, isn't it?" The calm in her voice, the lack of emotion, was even more frightening than her almost hysterical shouting of a few moments prior.

"That's not what I meant!"

"Don't touch me!"

"Please Hermione, just come to The Three Broomsticks for an hour or two. It'll be fun."

"Fun," she repeated flatly, "because that's my top priority." The sarcasm ripped his weak attempts at placating her to shreds. "I'm staying, and Sirius and James will do the same if they have any sense. I suppose it was wishful thinking that you might actually offer to help for once." Her acidic voice grew quieter, as if she were walking, or more likely storming, to the opposite side of the room.

There was the sound of a door being wrenched open, but before it had quite slammed shut, Ron lashed out in a last defence.

"Fine! We'll have a way better time without you there!"

There was no way she could not have heard.

--

Hermione flung open the heavy wooden trapdoor, her anger fuelling the motion, and pulled herself through the gap. Immediately, she was hit by the frosty January air. Panting from the exertion of having run up several flights of stairs, she shoved the trapdoor back into place with her foot and slumped onto the hard stone floor.

The top of the Gryffindor tower was somewhat a safe haven for Hermione, somewhere she could come when she needed to be alone. It was practically guaranteed to offer her solitude; Hermione wasn't sure if anyone else actually knew about it.

That was an extremely lucky thing indeed, as if they did she would never again have a moment of peace. The trapdoor she had just emerged through was situated right at the top of the girls' dormitory stairs, past the highest dormitory. Another, identical, trapdoor lay adjacent to the first, several feet away. Hermione had a strong suspicion that it indicated the top of the boys' dormitory staircase. If that was the case, had this haven of sorts been of common knowledge, it would undoubtedly play host to more than a few night time rendezvous.

And so for the secrecy Hermione was grateful.

She herself has discovered it in her third year at Hogwarts after exiting her own dormitory only to overhear Lavender and Parvati bitching about her in the middle of the stairs. They didn't show any sign of being about to leave, so Hermione couldn't reach the common room. What was more, they seemed to be waiting for someone, so she couldn't stay put either. Not wanting to face her other two dorm mates, Hermione turned and fled up the stairs, not stopping until she had reached the very top. A tear had fallen from her cheek and splashed onto the step on which she stood. As if this was the trigger, a silvery ladder had appeared before her. She had looked up only to see the glowing outline of a trap door, thus discovering Gryffindor Tower's best kept secret.

There has been no problem acquiring access today. Hermione lifted her sleeve in a vain attempt to wipe the tears from her face, her breathing ragged now only from emotion rather than physical exertion, though her heart was still beating wildly. A gust of wind blew her already wayward hair into even more disarray, the chill even bitterer where her cheeks were wet with tears. The cold sent a shudder through Hermione's body, awakening her to her surroundings.

It was cold. Freezing cold as a matter of fact and she was going to catch hypothermia if she didn't do anything about it. With deep breath and a moderately successful attempt to still her heaving shoulders, Hermione pulled out her wand and cast a warming charm about herself.

Drawing her robes tighter around her body while the spell took effect, she stood up and walked slowly to the parapet. Once she reached the stone wall that ran around the circumference of the flat tower roof, Hermione leaned against it, her elbows resting on the wide top. The breeze was almost pleasant now she was no longer shivering.

The view was one of Hermione's favourite things about the place. The tower was one of the tallest of the castle, and on a clear night such of this she could see not only the whole of Hogwarts' grounds, but miles of rolling hills, the huge lake, and the forest, seemingly extending forever. The vastness of the nature stretched out before her made Hermione feel so small, her problems so insignificant. And that was just what she needed.

Her gaze swept across from the forest to the little clump of lights by its edge that signified the village of Hogsmeade. Hogsmeade, where Ron and Harry and everyone else would no doubt be enjoying themselves at that very moment. Ron. Stupid, obnoxious, self-centred Ron.

Hermione couldn't tell whether she was more upset or angry at the thought of him. Her mind told her to ignore his parting comment, that he was just lashing out with whatever he could grasp, being both male and a Weasley it was inevitable. Yet her emotional rationality or lack of it as one might say, was far from convinced. Did she really ruin everyone's fun all the time? Is that what they all thought of her? As a burden, a nuisance?

But how dare he? How dare he just ignore every single thing she told him? How dare he still think he was right?

In fact, most of her feelings for Ron these days were confused, unclear and mixed up. She had no idea what was between them, they weren't dating, were they? But they acted suspiciously like Harry and Ginny sometimes, when they weren't arguing that was.

The troubling thing was she knew that everyone expected them to end up together, as if it were only a matter of time before they were married with as many children as Ron had siblings. But try as she might, and as much as she loved Ron (some of the time), Hermione just couldn't see it. It was almost as bad as imagining herself married to Harry. She shuddered at the thought. That was practically incest.

Sighing, she finally managed to stem the last of the tears. Trying to distract her mind from Ron (that foul, pathetic excuse for a human being), she turned and sat on the ground, her back resting against the wall. Then, changing her mind, she stood again and removed her school outer robe and folded it up before sitting back down on top of it. The warming charm had worked wonders.

But as she settled into a comfortable position, a movement in the now near darkness caught her eye. Startled, she withdrew further into the shadow cast by the wall with a sharp intake of breath. One of the trapdoors was open, and a head was poking through. Hermione tried to remain as still as possible, not even sure why she should be scared of being seen. Frustratingly, she couldn't make out the face.

The rest of the body came into view as the newcomer emerged and then shut the trapdoor. He or she, the figure was wearing a cloak so Hermione couldn't tell, straightened up and looked about.

"Hermione?"

At the sound of her name she consciously relaxed, breathing out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding. She knew that voice.

"Over here," she answered, her voice more shaky than she would have liked.

The figure walked over and Hermione could now make out the long hair being blown about by the wind, though the last of the setting sun meant that it was still mostly a silhouette.

"Hermione, are you alright?" his voice was tinged with genuine worry. But then his grin appeared. She couldn't see his face but she could hear it in his voice. "I thought you might want some chocolate," Sirius beamed.

And, true to his word, he was brandishing what looked more like a slab than a bar of chocolate. Suddenly, Hermione was all too aware that her face was still wet and probably more than a little red, and her hair was in a state worse than appalling. In an attempt to distract his attention from said face and hair, she patted the ground beside her, motioning for him to sit down.

He complied, letting out a short laugh as he did so. At her quizzical expression he elaborated, "I was wondering why half your limbs hadn't dropped off from frostbite yet, but now I see. Toasty!" Hermione smiled half heartedly in reply. Though she had recovered from her fright of moments before, she was still startled as to his presence. So to put off his first question she asked her own, "How did you...? What did...? How...?" or she tried to at least.

"How did I get up here, how did I find you, or how did I manage to come by such a humungous bar of chocolate?" He replied, proceeding to unwrap purple foil from the chocolate in question.

"Um, well all three really and why aren't you in Hogsmeade?" Hermione's found it easier to smile now, adding, "Thanks," as he passed her several large squares.

Sirius gestured vaguely at his appearance, "I'm pretty sure if I went out in public people would see me, and I didn't fancy an evening under the invisibility cloak. The rest of them have gone, and are on strict instruction to chuck the cloak over James' head at the first hint his glamour might be fading."

"And on whose instruction might that be?" Hermione found it hard to believe Ron had taken her words to heart, but maybe a miracle happened. She might even be able to forgive him."

"Mine..."

Oh. Well that's that then.

"...because, um..." Sirius continued, "I...that is to say the reason I knew where to find you...well I heard..." he trailed off.

"You heard Ron and me." It wasn't a question. Hermione knew that had to be it, it took a lot to make Sirius Black lost for words.

"Yes. I'm really sorry though, I didn't listen intentionally," He added quickly. "When I went into the bathroom the dorm was empty, but when I was about to come out again, I heard your voices."

"Don't be sorry, it's hardly your fault," Hermione reassured him with a pat on the knee. "But that doesn't explain how you found me. You can't have followed me because Ron was still in there after I left."

"Well first I thought you'd be in the library, but I couldn't go and check because that would involve roaming the corridors. I reckoned if you had been crying though you wouldn't have gone straight there anyway. Ginny said you weren't in the girls' bathrooms either. No, Ron didn't tell them what happened; they thought you might still be getting ready. So anyway, that meant you had to be up here."

Hermione swallowed her mouthful of chocolate. "They just left without me when they thought I was getting ready?" That backed up what Ron had said, they truly couldn't wait to get rid of her. She felt the prickle of tears behind her eyes once again.

"No, it wasn't like that," Sirius cut in, seemingly knowing what she was thinking. "Ron told them you had gone to the library and persuaded them to go. They were concerned at first, but I said I'd hang around in the dorm and wait 'til you came back."

At the mention of Ron, a new wave of anger had surged through her. "That loathsome pile of hippogriff dung!" she growled, but her voice wavered, betraying the tears that still threatened to spill. But then a warm pair of arms wrapped themselves round her in a friendly and consoling hug. "Just forget him; he's not worth losing sleep over. Besides, he's male; you know we don't think before we speak."

Hermione could feel the vibrations emanating from Sirius's throat as he spoke. She was so surprised at the emotional support, unused to receiving any such insight from her two best friends, that she managed a shaky laugh.

It was comforting being held. Her arms reached out automatically to reciprocate, and he didn't object. His hair tickled her nose and she tried to identify its scent. Something natural like a forest on a rainy day, spicy like cinnamon and cloves which reminded her of Christmas, and just the tiniest, fleeting hint of dog. His body was warm, and she could tell from his firm chest and arms that he was relatively muscular. Her knee brushed against his, and Hermione hoped he wouldn't notice the instantaneous increase in her heartbeat. But before she could ponder on the fact, he relinquished his hold. Panic shot through her as Sirius pulled away slightly to scrutinise her face, her mind jumping to the obvious conclusion: he must have felt it. However, he misinterpreted the worry that was evident on her face, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Seriously, don't take anything he said personally."

He reached down beside them with his other hand, and lifted the bar of chocolate, offering it to her. Hermione broke off some more, and began to nibble at the edges. It was starting to take effect already, she was feeling far better. Though whether that could be attributed to the chocolate or the company was another question altogether. "Where did you get the chocolate anyway?" Hermione wondered out loud, babbling in an attempt to distract herself from the tingling in her shoulder. "I would have thought a trip to Honeydukes would give your game away. Besides, I didn't know they even made bars this big!"

Sirius placed the slab down again, munching on his own piece. "Well funny you should ask that..." he began, and launched into a tale involving the problem of finding chocolate without leaving the common room and an extremely odd looking elf that he somehow managed to summon, who was obviously obsessed with Harry Potter.

By the time the warming spell began to wear off, which felt like minutes later but was probably more like hours, Hermione had almost completely forgotten the upsetting events of earlier that evening. The rest of the chocolate had been devoured and they both sat with their backs leant against the wall, her head resting on his shoulder as they chatted companionably.

Only when the chill started to seep through their clothes did they decide they ought to go back inside before the others came back and got worried. "And there was I thinking nobody else knew this existed," Hermione commented before stepping through the trapdoor that Sirius held open.

"Don't be silly," he snorted as he climbed through behind her, "as if they could keep a secret this good from me."

--

**There you go, some dramarama (as promised)!**

**Now I'm glad I posted the last chapter when I did, as this one is quite large enough on its own. I have given up on my target for 100 reviews for 10 chapters :3, but all reviews will be received with gleeful spazzing…and yes that was a not so subtle hint. **

**Any typos/weird extra words I've missed etc. you spot, let me know (as usual) so I can correct them!**

**Ron-bashing dedicated to Prinnie 3.**


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